New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, August 27, 2021:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Aug. 27, 2021
* NYNY2108.27


- Birds Mentioned
BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK+
BROWN BOOBY+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

KING EIDER
HUDSONIAN GODWIT
MARBLED GODWIT
Stilt Sandpiper
BAIRD’S SANDPIPER
White-rumped Sandpiper
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER
Pectoral Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Wilson’s Phalarope
Parasitic Jaeger
LONG-TAILED JAEGER
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel
BROWN PELICAN
SEDGE WREN
LARK SPARROW
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
SUMMER TANAGER
DICKCISSEL


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, August 27, 2021 at 8:00 pm.

The highlights of today's tape are LONG-TAILED JAEGER, BROWN BOOBY, BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK, BROWN PELICAN, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, KING EIDER, BUFF-BREASTED and BAIRD’S SANDPIPERS, HUDSONIAN and MARBLED GODWITS, SEDGE WREN, LARK SPARROW, PROTHONOTARY WARBLER, SUMMER TANAGER, DICKCISSEL and more.

Hopes were high, but Hurricane Henri surprisingly failed to produce any tropical surprises during its passage through our area last Sunday into Monday. What it did do was alter the timing and routes of a few southbound species, most notably on Monday, when the best rarities appeared off Riis Park with the brief visit of a juvenile LONG-TAILED JAEGER photographed as it passed by and headed out to sea and a BROWN BOOBY moving west out on the ocean. The biggest surprise, though, was the occurrence on Monday of several very substantial flocks of HUDSONIAN GODWITS - out at Orient Point birders spotted 6 separate flocks in the morning varying in size from 20 to 110 individuals, totaling 424 birds in all, and late morning at Robert Moses State Park a flock of 151 was videoed as it moved by. Even taking into account some estimates and duplications, this represents by far the highest daily count ever for this species in New York. Other flocks moving down the Connecticut coast would only add to this total, though only 2 birds were seen from Rye, the rest choosing unknown pathways south.

Also pushed south by Henri Monday were over 30 CASPIAN TERNS and several BLACK TERNS noted moving down the Hudson River, with a few of each also at coastal sites, while a few WILSON’S STORM-PETRELS and 1 or 2 PARASITIC JAEGERS also occurred along the coast. Also notable on Monday were counts of 65 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS at Breezy Point and a very high 165 at Robert Moses State Park.

The hurricane unfortunately pretty well filled up the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, but the BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK was still present today at the southwest corner of the pond. Prior to the storm, last Saturday shorebirds on the pond still featured 2 WILSON’S PHALAROPES along with STILT, PECTORAL and WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS.

Highlights among the shorebirds this week have been a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER at Brooklyn’s Plumb Beach Thursday and only very early today, and a BAIRD’S SANDPIPER in the Pelham Bay Orchard Beach parking lot Wednesday through today, with another BAIRD’S plus PECTORAL, STILT and WESTERN SANDPIPERS today at the Brooklyn Golf Center off Flatbush Avenue across from Floyd Bennett Field. A MARBLED GODWIT flew by Robert Moses State Park Tuesday, and a WILSON’S PHALAROPE visited Heckscher State Park today.

Two KING EIDERS were still at Wolfe’s Pond Park on Staten Island Monday, and a BROWN PELICAN was reported off Moses Park last Saturday.

A SEDGE WREN was still at restricted Freshkills Park on Staten Island Saturday, and a female-type YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was found at Nickerson Beach Wednesday. Single LARK SPARROWS were reported in Central Park’s north end Saturday and at Moses Park Tuesday, the latter site also recording a DICKCISSEL Tuesday. PROTHONOTARY WARBLER was last noted in Central Park Tuesday, and, belatedly, a SUMMER TANAGER was photographed in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery last Friday.

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