[nysbirds-l] NYC Area RBA: 29 June 2018
- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Jun. 29, 2018
* NYNY1806.29
- Birds mentioned
BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK+
ARCTIC TERN+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)
KING EIDER
Cory's Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
BROWN PELICAN
CATTLE EGRET
Black-bellied Plover
Willet (subspecies "Western Willet")
Ruddy Turnstone
Dunlin
White-rumped Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Lesser Black-backed Gull
GULL-BILLED TERN
BLACK TERN
Roseate Tern
Royal Tern
Red-breasted Nuthatch
BLUE GROSBEAK
- 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
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
Compilers: Tom Burke and 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, June 29th 2018
at 8pm. The highlights of today's tape are BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK,
BROWN PELICAN, ARCTIC, GULL-BILLED and BLACK TERNS, KING EIDER, CATTLE
EGRET and BLUE GROSBEAK.
Birders checking out a Facebook report last Saturday did indeed find a pair
of BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS on a small vegetated pond at Nissequogue
River State Park in King's Park, Suffolk County. The ducks have been
feeding and roosting on this pond at least through Thursday. Located east
of Sunken Meadow State Park on the Sunken Meadow Parkway but the park's
entrance is off St. Johnland Road. The entrance is a continuation of King's
Park Boulevard and leads to the administration building. Just before the
administration building circle there is a parking lot and a pond on the
left where the WHISTLING-DUCKS feed around the duckweed or roost on the
tree limbs surrounding the pond. We see no positive reports yet from today.
The only BROWN PELICAN report we are aware of this week was one flying by
Breezy Point on Wednesday.
The enhanced tern searching this year continues to produce some ARCTIC
TERNS outside of the traditional Cupsogue County Park location. Nickerson
Beach off Lido Boulevard still featured an immature ARCTIC through Monday.
While a thorough search out at Breezy Point last Sunday yielded 4 different
ARCTICS. Two were also present on the Cupsogue flats last Sunday. Besides a
continuing GULL-BILLED TERN or two at Nickerson this week also produced
singles at Plumb Beach in Brooklyn on Wednesday and at Cupsogue last
Saturday. A BLACK TERN visited Tiana Beach off Dune Road Thursday and
another was at Breezy Point Sunday. Decent numbers of ROSEATE TERNS
recently have included at least 15 at Breezy Point last Sunday and 5 at
Nickerson Monday. Increasing numbers of ROYAL TERNS featured 9 on Fire
Island Tuesday and 5 at Tiana Beach Thursday. Increasingly late LESSER
BLACK-BACKED GULLS did include singles at Coney Island Beach Saturday and
at Breezy Point to Tuesday.
A drake KING EIDER was still accompanying a Common Eider flock around
Shinnecock Inlet on Wednesday.
The recent poor showing of pelagics along Long Island's south shore did
include a SOOTY and 26 CORY'S SHEARWATERS off Robert Moses State Park field
2 on Wednesday and a single SOOTY going by Breezy Point the same day.
Among the 9 species of shorebirds at Cupsogue County Park last Sunday were
10 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, single RUDDY TURNSTONE and DUNLIN, 3 WHITE-RUMPED
SANDPIPERS, 6 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS and a "Western" WILLET.
A CATTLE EGRET was reported flying over the Cemetery of the Resurrection on
Staten Island Monday. A male BLUE GROSBEAK was spotted at Caumsett State
Park Monday and a breeding pair also continues around the Calverton
Grasslands.
Interesting has been the appearance of RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH in a couple of
city parks recently. This species relatively absent from the region this
year.
To phone in reports on Long Island call Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126 or
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
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RE: [nysbirds-l] Roseate Tern Banding and Aging Follow Up
As we've been discussing with regard to Arctic and other species of scarce terns, at least some of the uptick in reports this season is due to increased and more highly focused effort at appropriate sites and dates. But even allowing for this, I think the numbers of Roseates are slightly better this year than during the past five or so years. My own counts of Roseates at various sites have been better than those of the last few years: 5 at Nickerson Beach 16 Jun; 9 at Fire Island Inlet 27 Jun; 6 at Moriches Inlet 10 & 24 Jun. But, as Bob points out, these numbers are paltry compared to what used to be, not very long ago. The demise of the great Cedar Beach colony was a bit longer ago than Bob remembers. I know this with painful precision because it exactly preceded my arrival on Long Island: 1995-1996: http://www.nybirds.org/KBsearch/y1996v46n4/y1996v46n4rgn10.pdf# Although foxes and other direct disturbance were involved, it is also important to note that the local beach morphology was changing at the same time and that this might have played a role: http://www.nybirds.org/KBsearch/y1993v43n3/y1993v43n3p170-184feustel.pdf# The moderately large colony at Little Warner Island, near Shinnecock Inlet, appears to have vanished around 2004. My best counts of Roseates at Shinnecock, such as 75 in August 1999 and 50 in August 2004, are distant memories. More recently there have been perhaps two pairs among the Common Terns nesting on the bay island east of Triton Lane, in Shinnecock Bay. A big colony was present on Cartwright Shoals, off Gardiner's Island, in the early 2000s, with as many as 322 pairs in 2004, but I don't hear much about it anymore and doubt that it hosts many Roseates currently. Moderate sized colonies used to be present near there, along the Gardiner's Bay side of East Hampton (Cedar Point, Sammy's Beach), but I haven't seen recent counts that compare with my last significant ones from these sites, e.g., 10 and 60 respectively, on 28 Jun 2009. I am nearly certain that small numbers of Roseates breed along the south shore among Common Terns but are largely un-monitored. In the absence of consistent breeding at known sites by conspicuous numbers of pairs, nobody in particular seems to have a mandate to search for them and record them--let alone protect these small colonies from disturbance. The reason I believe they continue to breed in places such as Great South Bay and Moriches Bay (and maybe South Oyster Bay) is that I continue to see numbers (albeit slowly dwindling) of unbanded birds along the oceanfront and at the inlets, including unbanded juveniles: https://flic.kr/p/KtRbjQ https://flic.kr/p/KniuPw https://flic.kr/p/Knisdu https://flic.kr/p/Knisum The situations this year at Breezy Point and Nickerson Beach are interesting. We know via bands that at least three of the birds at Nickerson are actual second-summer birds (two year-olds), suggesting they, and perhaps all of the birds there, are non-breeding loafers. I hadn't heard about the hybrid pairing there last year, but I observed such a pairing at Fire Island Inlet in 2009: https://flic.kr/p/UHkC1U Ironically, our best hope is to find more unbanded Roseates, as these might reflect un-monitored breeders that could, with hard work and some coordination with the various conservation agencies, be confirmed and protected. Shai Mitra Bay Shore From: bounce-122667201-11143...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-122667201-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Robert Paxton [r...@columbia.edu] Sent: Friday, June 29, 2018 2:20 AM To: Long Island Birding Cc: Steve Walter; NYSBIRDS Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Roseate Tern Banding and Aging Follow Up More Roseate Terns than usual are being reported this summer at Breezy Point, Nickerson Beach etc. Some observers may not be aware that Roseate Terns have traditionally bred widely (though sparingly) along the south shore of Long Island. The only big colony is on Great Gull Island, off the east end (1600 chicks were banded there in summer 2017 by Helen Hays' team). The next biggest colony used to be several hundred pairs at Cedar Beach, but that colony was spooked by a fox a decade or so ago and has not reformed. Since then, there are at best only a very few small colonies at places like islands in Shinnecock Inlet. Maybe there's an upswing this year, but Roseate Terns are not unexpected as a breeding species in small numbers anywhere on the south shore. Knowledge of current breeding locations is poor, so if anyone finds breeding activity this summer that information (maybe not announced for a month or so to avoid disturbance) would help conservation efforts. We are at their southern limit (they don't breed at all in New Jersey). Bob Paxton On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 1:30 AM, Long Island Birding mailto:michaelz...@gmail.com>> wrote: Thanks for the update Steve, of note a few days ago I observed two of the r
