New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, April 8, 2022:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Apr. 8, 2022
* NYNY2204.08


- Birds Mentioned

MOTTLED DUCK+
ZONE-TAILED HAWK+
WESTERN TANAGER+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Mallard
KING EIDER
Spotted Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Bonaparte’s Gull
LITTLE GULL
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
GLAUCOUS GULL
CASPIAN TERN
American Bittern
Little Blue Heron
TRICOLORED HERON
Green Heron
Glossy Ibis
Purple Martin
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
House Wren
Purple Finch
Vesper Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
YELLOW-THROATED 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, April 8, 2022 at 11:00 pm.

The highlights of today's tape are ZONE-TAILED HAWK, a good candidate for MOTTLED DUCK, LITTLE GULL, WESTERN TANAGER, KING EIDER, GLAUCOUS GULL, CASPIAN TERN, TRICOLORED HERON, PROTHONOTARY and YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS and more.

A potentially very productive week for New York State:

Last Saturday morning birders at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn were very surprised once realizing that a raptor soaring overhead was a ZONE-TAILED HAWK; decent photos were taken, nicely showing key field marks, before the bird headed off in a westerly direction, escaping further detection.

Then on Tuesday, a duck seen at Ketchum's Creek Freshwater Wetland in Amityville gave the observer impressions of a MOTTLED DUCK, but the bird remained very elusive until this morning. Today this drake, usually in company with a female MALLARD, was closely studied and photographed and exhibited field marks very consistent with a MOTTLED DUCK, though hybrids can be an issue. The bird today was found along the watercourse just west of Lake Drive, favoring an area along the tree and phragmites lined bank across the river just north of where Kenmore Avenue ends at Lake Drive. Parking along the roads is available, but please respect the rights of the local homeowners.

Also, as both ZONE-TAILED HAWK and MOTTLED DUCK are potential first New York records, pending acceptance by NYSARC, hopefully observers of both species will submit reports directly to NYSARC, so they can be reviewed through the Accelerated Review process now in place.

A flock of BONAPARTE’S GULLS gathering off Conference House Park on southern Staten Island today also contained an adult LITTLE GULL.

The female WESTERN TANAGER wintering at Carl Schurz Park in Manhattan has not been seen since Tuesday.

The drake KING EIDER was still at Great Kills Park on Staten Island Tuesday, and lingering GULLS included the GLAUCOUS still just north of the Verrazano Bridge Sunday, single ICELAND GULLS at Fort Tilden Monday and Plumb Beach through today, and a few LESSER BLACK-BACKEDS. A CASPIAN TERN was up the Hudson River off Verplank today.

Three AMERICAN BITTERNS were spotted Tuesday, including one in Prospect Park, and a TRICOLORED HERON appeared along Dune Road the same day, when a LITTLE BLUE HERON also visited Conference House Park.

Other non-passerines this week have featured SPOTTED SANDPIPER, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, GREEN HERON and GLOSSY IBIS.

A YELLOW THROATED WARBLER has continued around the Ramble in Central Park all week, this species also returning by Wednesday to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River, and a PROTHONATARY WARBLER was reported today at Willow Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens.

A VESPER SPARROW was on Central Park's Great Lawn Saturday, and other passerines have included PURPLE MARTIN, HOUSE WREN, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, PURPLE FINCH and BALTIMORE ORIOLE.

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