New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, March 24, 2023:

+-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Mar. 24, 2023
* NYNY2303.24


- Birds Mentioned

MOTTLED DUCK+
SWAINSON'S HAWK+
WESTERN MEADOWLARK+

(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Mallard
EARED GREBE
Pectoral Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Iceland Gull
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
LARK SPARROW
“SOOTY” FOX SPARROW
VESPER SPARROW
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
SUMMER TANAGER

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 24 at 11:00 p.m.

The highlights of today's tape are MOTTLED DUCK, SWAINSON’S HAWK, WESTERN MEADOWLARK, “SOOTY” FOX SPARROW, EARED GREBE, BLACK-HEADED GULL, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, LARK and VESPER SPARROWS, SUMMER TANAGER and more.

The MOTTLED DUCK in Amityville was still being reported today on Avon Lake, where it is usually at the south end of the lake in company with a female MALLARD. It is best viewed from East Lake Drive, though the duck is at times hidden by the vegetation lining the west side of the lake or sometimes even does fly further downstream. Please remember this is a private residential community.

In Brooklyn the immature SWAINSON'S HAWK was present at least to Wednesday around the Sims Waste Recovery Plant located at the end of 29th Street just west of 2nd Avenue. Look for it around the buildings and light structures inside the chain link fence as well as on the surrounding scrap piles.

And just south of there the apparent WESTERN MEADOWLARK continues, seen today at Bush Terminal Piers Park, the parking lot for which is reached at the end of 43rd Street west of 1st Avenue. The MEADOWLARK favors a grubby, fenced-in vacant lot on the left as you walk into the park but also flies out to the shoreline vegetation along the cove near the path. Also watch for it perching in trees.

Also in Brooklyn, a “SOOTY”-type FOX SPARROW was found Thursday at Brooklyn Bridge Park, the location described as “the southwest corner of the Pier 3 meadow.” This current subspecies of FOX SPARROW, a second record for New York following one in Central Park in May 2010, is a candidate for elevation to full species status, a caveat being that there are other similar western forms of FOX SPARROW requiring careful differentiation.

The EARED GREBE at Shirley Chisholm State Park was still present last Sunday in Hendrix Creek, usually off Hendrix Street trail out near Penn Pier.

An adult BLACK-HEADED GULL continues to fly by Randall's Island, including today, as it heads down the East River very early in the morning.

An ICELAND GULL visited Breezy Point last weekend, and another has been present in the vicinity of Brooklyn Terminal Piers Park through today.

Four LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS were still around the West Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge last weekend, and one or two continued at Smith Pond in Rockville Centre through today.

A RED-HEADED WOODPECKER remains in Brooklyn's Marine Park, usually in the vicinity of Stuart Street and Avenue T.

Late last Sunday afternoon a LARK SPARROW and a VESPER SPARROW were found together on a grassy stretch adjacent to I-95 near Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx; both birds also visited that site early on Monday and Tuesday mornings but quickly moved off each day and haven't been seen since.

A SUMMER TANAGER continues at private feeders in Islip.

Among increasing numbers of some early migrants were five PECTORAL SANDPIPERS showing up at Heckscher State Park on Tuesday, while among the WARBLERS, a COMMON YELLOWTHROAT arrived along with more PINES and PALMS, and ORANGE-CROWNEDS continued at six or more local sites.

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