New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, June 5, 2020:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* June 5, 2020
* NYNY2006.05


- Birds Mentioned

MISSISSIPPI KITE+
ATLANTIC PUFFIN+
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOW
RED PHALAROPE
POMARINE JAEGER
DOVEKIE
ICELAND GULL
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel
Leach’s Storm-Petrel
Cory’s Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Great Shearwater
BROWN PELICAN
Red-headed Woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Alder Flycatcher
Nelson’s Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
Mourning Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Canada Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
SUMMER TANAGER
BLUE GROSBEAK

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, June 5, 2020 at 10:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are MISSISSIPPI KITE, BROWN PELICAN, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, POMARINE JAEGER, CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOW, ICELAND GULL, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, SUMMER TANAGER, BLUE GROSEAK, a belated pelagic trip report including RED PHALAROPE, DOVEKIE and ATLANTIC PUFFIN, and more.

An immature MISSISSIPPI KITE was a fortunate sighting Sunday morning in Central Park, nicely photographed as it briefly flew over the Ramble, headed east. Another was subsequently spotted Monday morning over the Sterling Forest visitor’s center in Orange County.

This morning a sea watch off Robert Moses State Park Field 2 produced 3 BROWN PELICANS slowly making their way east, and a little later 2 were seen off Field 5, where they shortly continued further east. Otherwise, sea watching lately has only produced a few SOOTY SHEARWATERS and WILSON’S STORM-PETRELS.

Very interesting, though, was a belated report from a private fishing boat back on May 27, well south of Shinnecock inlet, that encountered 2 RED PHALAROPES, 1 DOVEKIE, 1 ATLANTIC PUFFIN, with possibly more present but disappearing quickly, 1 CORY’S, 2 GREAT and 19 SOOTY SHEARWATERS, and 2 LEACH’S and 6 WILSON’S STORM-PETRELS.

A female YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was a nice find on Wednesday at the Sayville Maritime Museum in West Sayville.

An adult POMARINE JAEGER was loafing on the beach near the eastern Tern colony at Nickerson Beach last Saturday but did not remain overnight.

Another surprise was a CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOW recorded as it sang near the Rye shore last Saturday night only.

An ICELAND GULL was noted again last Sunday at Brooklyn’s Plumb Beach, and a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was still around the Paumanok Trail off Schultz Road in Manorville yesterday.

Landbird migration, coming quickly to an end, is still providing a few highlights. A YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was still singing Tuesday at the Muttontown Preserve, where other migrants that day also included ALDER FLYCATCHER and MOURNING WARBLER.

Other FLYCATCHERS during this week also featured YELLOW-BELLIED, ACADIAN and OLIVE-SIDED, while the WARBLERS, mostly gone now, did include some MOURNINGS, with birds at Central Park and such Brooklyn locations as Prospect Park, Greenwood Cemetery and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Other WARBLERS lingering here featured a few CAPE MAY, BAY-BREASTED and BLACKBURNIAN as well as other later species like MAGNOLIA, WILSON’S, CANADA and BLACKPOLL, plus some other late migrants.

A LINCOLN’S SPARROW was still in Bryant Park in Manhattan last Sunday, and a NELSON’S SPARROW was photographed Monday at the Marine Park Salt Marsh Nature Center in Brooklyn.

SUMMER TANAGERS in the NYC area included reports from Central Park to Sunday, at Greenwood Cemetery Tuesday and Wednesday, and at Brooklyn’s Owl’s Head Park yesterday.

With BLUE GROSBEAKS nesting in the Calverton grasslands area and breeding season in general now in full swing, we can only again point out how crucial this period is to our nesting birds, so please do nothing to disturb their current activities.

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