-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Dec. 17, 2020
* NYNY2012.17
– Birds Mentioned
THICK-BILLED MURRE+
MEW GULL+
ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER+
WESTERN TANAGER+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
BARNACLE GOOSE
EURASIAN WIGEON
KING EIDER
HARLEQUIN DUCK
BARROW’S GOLDENEYE
Red-necked Grebe
EARED GREBE
Razorbill
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
GLAUCOUS GULL
Royal Tern
WESTERN KINGBIRD
Common Redpoll
RED CROSSBILL
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
Baltimore Oriole
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
If followed by (+) please submit documentation of your report electronically and use the NYSARC online submission form found at https://www.nybirds.org/NYSARC/goodreport.htm
You can also send reports and digital image files via email to nysarc44<at>nybirds<dot>org
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 Thursday, December 17, 2020 at 9 pm.
The highlights of today’s tape are MEW GULL, ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, WESTERN TANAGER, WESTERN KINGBIRD, BARNACLE and GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, EURASIAN WIGEON, BARROW’S GOLDENEYE, KING EIDER and HARLEQUIN DUCK, BLACK-HEADED and GLAUCOUS GULLS, BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE, THICK-BILLED MURRE, EARED GREBE, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, RED CROSSBILL and more.
Scanning through Gull flocks along the Brooklyn waterfront continues to be productive -searches for last week’s first winter MEW GULL produced a strongly marked adult MEW GULL Wednesday, the bird first spotted at Brooklyn Army Terminal Pier 4 and then presumably the same bird a little later up at Bush Terminal Piers Park. And today, likely
the immature from the prior week was noted again at Army Terminal Pier 4, this site also hosting an immature male KING EIDER since Tuesday and a continuing ICELAND GULL.
An ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER visited Jones Beach West End last Sunday, this also the last day the one in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery was seen. Sunday also provided a sighting of a WESTERN KINGBIRD in Green-Wood, but this individual quickly disappeared.
The WESTERN TANAGER continuing in Manhattan’s Chelsea section along West 22nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues through today was joined by another in Manhattan as of Tuesday up at Carl Schurz Park at East 86th Street, east of East End Avenue, this site also providing one or two BALTIMORE ORIOLES. As a note, another WESTERN TANAGER was seen back on December 6th near Big Reed Pond out in Montauk.
Two BARNACLE GEESE were still visiting fields along Deerfield Avenue in Water Mill last Saturday, when a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was also noted there. Another GREATER WHITE-FRONTED was still around Tung Ting Pond in Eastport last Sunday, and one still visits the Bowman Avenue Pond in Rye Brook, though often not for long.
Single drake EURASIAN WIGEON were noted Saturday at Grant Park in Hewlett and Wednesday on Mill Pond in Oyster Bay.
One or two drake BARROW’S GOLDENEYES were present Sunday off Crab Meadow Beach in Northport, and along with a few KING EIDERS remaining in the Fort Tilden – Riis Park area were three off Robert Moses State
Park Wednesday.
A HARLEQUIN DUCK was spotted Wednesday flying by Montauk Point, that same day providing roughly a dozen BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, strong numbers of RAZORBILLS, and among them a reported THICK-BILLED MURRE.
An adult BLACK-HEADED GULL, presumably a returning bird, was around Setauket harbor as of Monday, a GLAUCOUS GULL was spotted on the bay side of Cupsogue County Park last Saturday, and two ICELAND GULLS were in the East River off Austin Nichols House last Saturday.
Some LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS included one on Prospect Park Lake Sunday, and a ROYAL TERN was still at Breezy Point Sunday.
An EARED GREBE remained on the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge at least to Sunday, when a RED-NECKED GREBE was still on Meadow Lake at Flushing Meadow – Corona Park. Other RED-NECKED GREBES continue off Brooklyn.
A YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was present Monday and Tuesday at Ketcham’s Creek Freshwater Wetland in Amityville.
Small numbers of COMMON REDPOLLS continue to appear locally, while scattered RED CROSSBILLS peaked with forty at Jones Beach West End Tuesday, down to nine Wednesday.
With Christmas Counts starting this weekend, please call in Count results, which hopefully may contain a few of our lingering WARBLERS, including OVENBIRD, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, TENNESSEE, ORANGE-CROWNED, NASHVILLE or even NORTHERN PARULA.
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
