-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* May 30, 2025
* NYNY2505.30
– Birds Mentioned
BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK+
FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER+
+ Details requested by NYSARC)
KING EIDER
Common Eider
Whimbrel
RED PHALAROPE
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE
Caspian Tern
ARCTIC TERN
Royal Tern
Sooty Shearwater
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Bicknell’s Thrush
Yellow-breasted Chat
Mourning Warbler
SUMMER TANAGER
BLUE GROSBEAK
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
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, May 30,
2025 at 11:00 pm.
The highlights of today’s tape are FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER,
BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK, ARCTIC TERN, RED and RED-NECKED
PHALAROPES, KING EIDER, SUMMER TANAGER, BLUE GROSBEAK and more.
Very fortunately, the FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER found on Randalls Island
on Wednesday, May 21st, continued feeding along the overgrown former
golf driving range through the weekend, providing many with the
opportunity to enjoy it before it finally moved on late Sunday.
Also surprising were two BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS found last
Saturday on a small stretch of stream at Columbus Park in Mamaroneck,
Westchester County, these ducks lounging for the day just behind the
Metro-North train station but disappearing overnight.
A few pelagic northbound rarities spotted during the week featured a
first summer ARCTIC TERN present briefly Wednesday at Nickerson Beach,
this in recent years a decent location to look for this species among
the breeding TERNS there, and also a couple of PHALAROPES, firstly a
non-breeding plumaged RED PHALAROPE seen around Mecox Inlet from
Saturday through Monday, followed by a breeding plumaged female
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE present along Dune Road west of Shinnecock Inlet
from Tuesday through today, last noted in a small wet area near light
pole number 438 near 28 Dune Road.
Today three WHIMBRELS were out at Yellow Bar Hassock in Jamaica Bay
and another visited Brooklyn’s Plumb Beach. A CASPIAN TERN flew up
the Hudson River past Croton Point Park Tuesday, and a few arriving
ROYAL TERNS have been seen along the coast recently.
A female KING EIDER was still off Great Gull Island Wednesday along
with some COMMON EIDER.
As landbird migration, enduring despite the unfavorable weather
conditions we’ve encountered recently, draws towards its conclusion,
still moving through are a variety of WARBLERS, including MOURNING, as
well as OLIVE-SIDED and some Empidonax FLYCATCHERS, featuring
YELLOW-BELLIED and ACADIAN, plus both BICKNELL’S and GRAY-CHEEKED
THRUSHES, and a few unpredictable regional breeders like
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, with two, for instance, present recently on
Staten Island.
SUMMER TANAGERS, still quite rare as regional nesters, now are present
at various eastern Long Island sites, while one was still at
Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn Tuesday. BLUE GROSBEAKS in recent
years have been nesting fairly successfully in the Calveron area of
eastern Long Island, and migrants were also noted this week in
Prospect Park and Green-Wood Cemetery.
With SOOTY SHEARWATER noted off Long Island recently, now is a good
time to begin ocean watching for pelagics along the south shore; the
productivity of sites generally improves the farther east you go, and,
with weather a variable to take into account, productive watches are
often possible from Robert Moses State Park and other coastal sites
out to Montauk Point. Good luck!
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