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: Ben Cacace
BEGIN TAPE
Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for *Friday, March 13th 2026* at 11pm. The highlights of today's tape are SWAINSON'S HAWK, PACIFIC LOON, TRUMPETER SWAN, COMMON and THICK-BILLED MURRES, AMERICAN GOSHAWK, TUNDRA SWAN, EURASIAN WIGEON, BLACK-HEADED and GLAUCOUS GULLS, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, Spring migrants and more.
A brief warm spell brought in a few early migrants this week but our only reports of the adult SWAINSON'S HAWK in Brooklyn came from last Monday with the bird seen both at the Sim's Municipal Recycling Center and flying over nearby Green-wood Cemetery. The recycling center is a restricted access property but can be viewed from outside the surrounding fencing but time will tell if the hawk moved on during this weather break.
A PACIFIC LOON recently lingering around Jones Inlet was reported again last weekend out in the boat channel off Jones Beach West End but not since, though possibly still present.
The TRUMPETER SWAN recently visiting the East River with an accompanying Mute Swan has been seen the last several days off or near Brooklyn's Marsha P. Johnson State Park or just to the south at the North 5th Street Pier and Park in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.
Both MURRES were reported locally last Saturday with a THICK-BILLED photographed first off Plumb Beach and then almost 2 hours later farther west off Brighton Beach while a COMMON MURRE was spotted well outside Shinnecock Inlet drifting to the east.
The immature AMERICAN GOSHAWK at Jones Beach West End was seen a few times this week as it stealthily hunts around the dunes near the boardwalk also appropriately used as a hawkwatch site with sightings often rather brief and somewhat obstructed.
Two TUNDRA SWANS were spotted moving north over Croton Point Park in Westchester Monday morning. A drake EURASIAN WIGEON was reported from the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Tuesday and Wednesday and another was noted today in a waterfowl gathering in Bellport Bay off Shirley Beach on the west side of Shirley.
An adult BLACK-HEADED GULL was spotted Tuesday on the beach at Oldfield Point and Lighthouse. An immature GLAUCOUS GULL was moving between Brooklyn Army Terminal Pier 4 and Bush Terminal Piers Park early in the week at least to Tuesday with one or two ICELAND GULLS doing the same through Thursday. Single ICELANDS were also noted Saturday at Great Kills Park and Shinnecock Inlet with others still hanging around Gravesend Bay through today.
A RED-NECKED GREBE was still around Floyd Bennett Field to Tuesday with another that day at Oldfield Point.
A ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was spotted Monday at Pine Meadow County Park in Eastport and an adult RED-HEADED WOODPECKER continues at Marshlands Conservancy in Rye.
Among the few expected migrants beginning to show up recently have been PIPING PLOVER, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, LAUGHING GULL, GREAT EGRET, OSPREY, TREE SWALLOW and PINE WARBLER.
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.
