New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, March 27, 2020:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Mar. 27, 2020
* NYNY2003.27


- Birds Mentioned

VARIED THRUSH+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

SNOW GOOSE
KING EIDER
HARLEQUIN DUCK
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK
SANDHILL CRANE
American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Laughing Gull
ICELAND GULL
Lesser Black-backed Gull
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
Eastern Phoebe
Purple Martin
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
House Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
American Pipit
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
VESPER SPARROW
Rusty Blackbird
Louisiana Waterthrush
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
Common Yellowthroat
Pine Warbler

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 nysarc44nybirdsorg

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: Gail Benson

[~BEGIN RBA TAPE~]

Greetings! This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, March 27, 2020 at 10:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are SANDHILL CRANE, VARIED THRUSH, KING EIDER and HARLEQUIN DUCK, ICELAND GULL, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, VESPER SPARROW and more.

With SANDHILL CRANES recently returning to the northeast and breeding sites used in recent years, it was nice to have a pair at least pass through our region, as happened yesterday when two flew over a home in Croton-on-Hudson in northern Westchester and were shortly thereafter spotted moving east over Croton Dam Park. Hopefully more will follow.

An unconfirmed report of the Prospect Park VARIED THRUSH near the Nethermead Arches on Monday was this week’s only mention of any exceptional passerine, perhaps appropriate given the restrictive conditions we must now abide by.

But signs of Spring do persist. On the warbler front a LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH first noted in Prospect Park last Sunday was followed by another in Central Park today, while at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens an overwintering ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was joined today by a singing COMMON YELLOWTHROAT. A list of other passerines just now arriving or currently showing increases in numbers include many more EASTERN PHOEBES, the first NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS, PURPLE MARTINS and HOUSE WRENS, plus GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, EASTERN BLUEBIRD, BROWN THRASHER and GRAY CATBIRD, CHIPPING SPARROW, EASTERN TOWHEE, AMERICAN PIPIT, RUSTY BLACKBIRD and PINE WARBLER. And found today as part of a reasonable early flight was a VESPER SPARROW at Captree Island, while two wintering at the Suffolk County Farm and Education Center off Yaphank Avenue were still present last Saturday.

Other arrivals have featured a few SNOWY EGRETS joining some GREAT EGRETS, YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, more GLOSSY IBIS and AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, with two LESSER YELLOWLEGS recently on Staten Island, and certainly more LAUGHING GULLS and DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS.

Among the waterfowl the female KING EIDER was still present today off Orient Point, where the four HARLEQUIN DUCKS were last noted on Wednesday; the HARLEQUIN DUCK in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn continued at least to yesterday. 120 SNOW GEESE flew over Rye yesterday.

An ICELAND GULL was at Jacob Riis Park Monday, and two LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were present at Floyd Bennet Field Monday, with singles also noted at at least eight other sites this week.

The Ocean Parkway ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was spotted at Cedar Beach last Saturday, and one flew over Marshlands Conservancy in Rye Sunday.

RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS continue in Central Park’s north end and at Cunningham Park and the Long Pond Greenbelt in Sag Harbor.

Very unexpectedly, a fairly large incursion of NORTHERN GANNETS into western Long Island Sound began yesterday and continued through today. Yesterday, around 200 GANNETS were seen moving west past Rye late in the day, with similar numbers today; presumably following bait fish, along Long Island’s north shore a swarm was noted yesterday off Cedar Point in East Hampton and today an estimated 2,000+ flew by Sunken Meadow State Park, with well over 700 moving back east off Stamford, CT late in the afternoon. Quite unusual numbers away from the Atlantic Ocean!

Please note that there are currently recording issues with the RBA, which hopefully will be resolved soon. 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