New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, March 20, 2020:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Mar. 20, 2020
* NYNY2003.20


- Birds mentioned
WESTERN SANDPIPER+
PAINTED BUNTING+
TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE+
VARIED THRUSH+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Razorbill
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Laughing Gull
HARLEQUIN DUCK
KING EIDER
Glossy Ibis
Great Egret
Clapper Rail
Piping Plover
American Oystercatcher
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK
Osprey
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
VESPER SPARROW
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER

- Transcript

If followed by (+) please submit documentation of your report electronically and use the NYSARC online submission form found at http://www.nybirds.org/NYSARC/goodreport.htm

You can also send reports and digital image files via email to nysarc44 (at)nybirds{dot}org.

If electronic submission is not possible, hardcopy reports and photos or sketches are welcome. Hardcopy documentation should be mailed to:

Gary Chapin - Secretary
NYS Avian Records Committee (NYSARC)
125 Pine Springs Drive
Ticonderoga, NY 12883

Hotline: New York City Area Rare Bird Alert
Number: (212) 979-3070

Compiler: Tom Burke
Coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester County

Transcriber: Ben Cacace

BEGIN TAPE

Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, March 20th 2020 at 9pm. The highlights of today's tape are PAINTED BUNTING, VARIED THRUSH, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, KING EIDER, HARLEQUIN DUCK, WESTERN SANDPIPER, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, VESPER SPARROW and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER plus a few new migrants.

Given the turmoil we've been subjected to recently it's great to have three of our best over wintering species reappear locally. On Thursday morning the female type PAINTED BUNTING was spotted at Plumb Beach in Brooklyn, a new location for this species this winter but perhaps involving an individual visiting previously in the borough or maybe a little farther afield. This bird was found in the dune scrub in front of the parking lot off the Belt Parkway and lingered there into the afternoon.

In Prospect Park the VARIED THRUSH was seen midweek through today along the path to the boathouse and especially near the split Osage Orange tree.

Out on the South Fork of Long Island the TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE was spotted again last Saturday in the SLPOA Nature Preserve off Three Mile Harbor Drive. This site in Northwest Harbor is marked by a small white sign with the SLPOA initials on it.

With waterfowl numbers seriously dropping the female KING EIDER at least stayed to Wednesday off Orient Point where the four HARLEQUIN DUCKS continue through today. The Brooklyn male HARLEQUIN DUCK still around Sheepshead Bay last Sunday seemed more advanced than the one dropping by Plumb Beach on Thursday. The female HARLEQUIN was spotted out in Shinnecock Inlet last Sunday.

Last Sunday a WESTERN SANDPIPER, presumably a wintering bird, was identified in a large concentration of Sanderlings and Dunlin at Nickerson Beach and was spotted again there today. PIPING PLOVER and AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER are also now present at that site and elsewhere.

A RAZORBILL was spotted off Breezy Point last Sunday.

A LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL visited Jones Beach West End last Saturday perhaps our last report from that location for awhile and two more were at Smith Point County Park yesterday.

A ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was still along Ocean Parkway last Saturday while Wednesday found RED-HEADED WOODPECKER still visiting the north end of Central Park and Cunningham Park in Queens. Also continuing have been a VESPER SPARROW at the Suffolk County Farm and Education Center to Monday and an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER visiting the suet feeder at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton to Wednesday.

Among recent arrivals have been CLAPPER RAIL, GREAT EGRET and more LAUGHING GULLS, an OSPREY plus 7 GLOSSY IBIS out in Holbrook Long Island today.

To phone in reports call Tom Burke at (914) 967-4922.

This service is sponsored by the Linnaean Society of New York and the National Audubon Society. Thank you for calling.

- End transcript