[nysbirds-l] NYC Area RBA: 10 January 2014

2014-01-10 Thread Ben Cacace 
- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Jan. 10, 2014
* NYNY1401.10

- Birds mentioned

BARNACLE GOOSE+
GYRFALCON+
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

TUNDRA SWAN
Eurasian Wigeon
KING EIDER
HARLEQUIN DUCK
Red-necked Grebe
American Bittern
Black Vulture
Red-shouldered Hawk
Clapper Rail
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Willet (subspecies "Western Willet")
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Purple Sandpiper
Dunlin
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
GLAUCOUS GULL
Razorbill
SNOWY OWL
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
Eastern Phoebe
NORTHERN SHRIKE
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
SEDGE WREN
Orange-crowned Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW
Nelson's Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow (western subspecies "Gambel's" form)
Lapland Longspur
Snow Bunting
Boat-tailed Grackle

- Transcript

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
nysa...@nybirds.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

To report sightings call:
Tom Burke (212) 372-1483 (weekdays, during the day)
Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126 (Long Island)

Compiler: Tom Burke, Tony Lauro
Coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester County

Transcriber: Ben Cacace

BEGIN TAPE

Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, January 10th
2014 at 7pm. The highlights of today's tape are GYRFALCON, BLACK-HEADED
GULL, SEDGE WREN, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, NORTHERN SHRIKE, TUNDRA SWAN,
BARNACLE GOOSE, KING EIDER, HARLEQUIN DUCK, GLAUCOUS GULL, GRASSHOPPER
SPARROW, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, SNOWY OWL and a pelagic trip announcement.

Last Saturday the gray GYRFALCON seen west of Gilgo being harassed by a
Peregrine and later harassing a SNOWY OWL feeding in the marsh but most of
its time was spent sitting on Osprey platforms along the channel. This area
is north of Ocean Parkway and viewable from the large Gilgo parking lot.
The best views were had from the side of Ocean Parkway. Thus the GYRFALCON
has been hunting the marsh at least from Cedar Beach Marina west to Gilgo
and may even range further than that though the plentiful supply of ducks
in that area should keep it around. Also noted at Cedar Beach were AMERICAN
BITTERN and BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE.

An adult BLACK-HEADED GULL was spotted at Coney Island Creek last Saturday
with a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL there Sunday.

At Jones Beach West End NORTHERN SHRIKE was seen again last Sunday but
remains elusive covering a lot of territory. It is most frequently seen
between the swale at West End 2 east to the Roosevelt Nature Center but
obviously ranges much farther than that. Also at Jones Beach West End over
last weekend were LAPLAND LONGSPUR among 300 plus SNOW BUNTINGS and some
HORNED LARKS, a TREE SWALLOW or two and at least 3 SNOWY OWLS all
unfortunately being constantly disturbed and forced to relocate.

An interesting assortment of shorebirds at Point Lookout last weekend
included the unusually late PIPING PLOVER, 2 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, a few
RED KNOTS and a "Western" WILLET plus more expected species such as
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, PURPLE SANDPIPER, RUDDY TURNSTONE, DUNLIN and
SANDERLING. Seven HARLEQUIN DUCKS were along the inlet jetty Sunday.

An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and CHIPPING SPARROW were around the Fireman's
Park fields at the eastern end of Lido Boulevard. A sub-adult male KING
EIDER was still off Fort Tilden with scoters on Sunday a [...] BARNACLE
GOOSE was spotted late Tuesday afternoon with Canadas on the lake at
Belmont Lake State Park was also there each morning since. The geese move
off this lake each day starting shortly after 8am.

A EURASIAN WIGEON was near the Tottenville train station on Staten Island
Saturday. An ICELAND GULL was at Jones Beach field 6 Monday and birds at
Caumsett State Park Thursday featured RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, EASTERN PHOEBE
and a lingering RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. Other RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS include
one in Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn to Thursday and 2 continuing near
Turtle Cove at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx.

Out east a female YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was seen in a large mixed
blackbird flock at the Buffalo Farm at the south side of Reeves Avenue west
of Roanoke Avenue in Riverhead Tuesday.

Dune Road and Shinnecock Inlet have been very productive lately. Five KING
EIDERS, 3 females and 2 immature males, remain around the inlet where
single GLAUCOUS and ICELAND GULLS have been lingering and along Dune Road
west of the inlet last Sunday were a SEDGE WREN ea

[nysbirds-l] An Interesting Brant at Pt Lookout, Nassau County, Long Island

2014-01-10 Thread pjlindsay 
Late Sunday afternoon (5 Jan), Patricia Lindsay and I studied a very 
distinctive dark Brant at Pt Lookout, Nassau County, Long Island. The 
bird was among a large flock on the flat immediately east of Lido 
Boulevard, but all the birds were flushed in short order by a 
dog-walker.


Clearly not an example of the locally abundant subspecies hrota 
("Atlantic" or "Pale-bellied"), this bird also differed in multiple 
respects from Pacific Black Brant (orientalis):


-Its overall dorsal plumage tone was very slightly, if at all, darker 
than that of accompanying hrota (vs. obviously darker, as in Black 
Brant)


-Its dark ventral apron extended less far rearward and blended diffusely 
with its white lower belly (rather than forming an obvious, abrupt 
dividing line posterior to the legs, as in Black Brant)


-Its ventral neck collar was only slightly bolder than that of adult 
hrota nearby, lacked well-defined webbing, and was incomplete ventrally 
(vs. broad and ventrally complete, with bold webbing, as in Black 
Brant).


Photos showing these features can be seen here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/109808209543611018404/LongIslandMiscellany2014

Birds of this appearance have puzzled ornithologists for more than a 
century and a half, beginning with a specimen collected in New Jersey in 
1846, and continuing with a sparse but consistent accumulation of 
records from the east coast of North America and elsewhere. Because 
their appearance is in various ways intermediate between Atlantic 
Pale-bellied and Pacific Black Brant, they have been suspected as 
hybrids--although no direct evidence supports this view. Alternatively, 
these birds' close resemblance to the population breeding in the western 
Canadian High Arctic, known as Gray-bellied Brant, suggests that they 
might be vagrants rather than hybrids.


It is a signature feature of this conundrum that the identity of the 
1846 NJ specimen is itself controversial. Published by Lawrence as the 
type of a new taxon, nigricans, it was regarded for a century as the 
type for Pacific Black Brant, but it was distinguished from that taxon 
by Delacour and Zimmer (1952). P. A. Buckley and I (2002) documented the 
congruence among this specimen, other eastern North American records, 
and Gray-bellied Brant, and proposed that the name nigricans be 
restricted to Gray-bellied Brant (previously not formally named).


Shai Mitra & Patricia Lindsay
Bay Shore, NY

Delacour and Zimmer (1952): https://sora.unm.edu/node/20044

Three geese resembling Gray-bellied Brant/Lawrence's Brant from Long 
Island, New York. 2002, Buckley, P.A.; Mitra, S.S. North American Birds, 
56: 502 - 507.
Abstract available online here: 
http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/5224228


BNA account (Lewis et al. 2013): 
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/337/articles/systematics


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[nysbirds-l] Barnacle Goose - Belmont Lake SP (Suffolk)

2014-01-10 Thread Derek Rogers 
The Barnacle Goose was showing very nicely on Belmont Lake this morning. 

I arrived shortly after 7:00 AM and quickly located the bird on the open water 
toward the north end of the lake. It eventually climbed onto the ice and 
allowed for even better study as I watched the bird preen and let out some 
"barking" call notes. Sub flocks began exiting the lake at around 8:15 AM. The 
Barnacle lingered a bit longer and eventually took off heading toward the 
northwest. 

Best,

Derek Rogers 
Sayville
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39025168@N07/


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Re: [nysbirds-l] Long Island Northern Shrike and Gyrfalcon sightings

2014-01-10 Thread robert adamo 
Hi Richard,

Yesterday, en-route to the Garden City/ Mineola area, I detoured down
to the Ocean Parkway, looking for the gyr from ~ 1115 - 1145, between the
Robert Moses Parkway and the Wantagh State Parkway, with a quick stop at
the Gilgo Marina, without success. I did, however, get an adult Peregrine
on the WSP, near the first bridge n/o the OP.

Cheers,
Bob


On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at 11:35 AM, Richard Zaineldeen wrote:

> Have there been any recent sightings of the Gyrfalcon at Cedar Beach or
> the Northern Shrike at Jones Beach?
> Any updates would be appreciated.
>
> Richard ZainEldeen
> Brooklyn, New York
>
>
>
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[nysbirds-l] Shinnecock inlet king eider yes

2014-01-10 Thread Cesar Castillo 
For anyone interested the king eiders are still present at shinnecock inlet 
east.

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android


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