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 29,
2026 at 11:00 pm. The highlights of today’s tape are BROWN BOOBY,
SANDWICH TERN, WHITE IBIS, MISSISSIPPI KITE, BLACK-NECKED STILT,
WHITE-FACED IBIS, ARCTIC TERN, WILSON’S PHALAROPE, PHILADELHIA VIREO,
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER, SUMMER TANAGER, BLUE GROSBEAK and more.
Certainly unexpected was an adult BROWN BOOBY sitting on a rock just
off the Olympia Boulevard bridge over the New Creek Watershed on
Staten Island for a while on Tuesday, the striking bird ultimately
flying off to the northeast.
An historic incursion of WHITE IBIS into New York took place last
Tuesday when a large flock of adults was seen heading past Sandy Hook,
New Jersey, and towards Staten Island, The flock ultimately settled
down on Hoffman Island in New York Bay east of Staten Island, where
birders taking long-distance photos and estimated counts were coming
up with between 42 and 57 individuals. By Wednesday, however, totals
had dropped to just 3 on Hoffman Island and these also soon moved on,
ending this momentous event, but providing perhaps just a preview of
longer-lasting future visits.
A non-breeding SANDWICH TERN was photographed on the flats at Cupsogue
Beach County Park last Saturday.
MISSISSIPPI KITES, with certainly a few but unknown number of
individuals involved, continued appearances over Brooklyn especially
at least to Thursday. Sightings came from Staten Island Wednesday and
Thursday, and in Brooklyn from Calvert Vaux Park and near Prospect
Park on Monday and around Prospect and Green-Wood Cemetery yesterday,
the latter nicely photographed.
The BLACK-NECKED STILT visiting the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife
Refuge stayed through Monday, while a WILSON’S PHALAROPE hanging
around the south end of the pond was noted to Monday and then again
today.
Among the GLOSSY IBIS visiting the East Pond recently has been an
individual that raised some issues about being a hybrid, but photos
taken today certainly seem to portray a good WHITE-FACED IBIS.
Following reports of single ARCTIC TERNS off Montauk Point and
Shinnecock last Saturday were 2 seen today, an adult and an immature,
at Moriches Bay, joined there by a BLACK TERN.
Birds off Montauk Point last Saturday featured single MANX and SOOTY
SHEARWATERS, with an ICELAND GULL there Sunday, and a GLAUCOUS GULL
was spotted over Brooklyn Bridge Park Monday. Two CASPIAN TERNS at
Prospect Park Thursday followed 1 at Plumb Beach Monday.
Single PHILADELPHIA VIREOS were photographed in Prospect Park Monday
and on Governors Island Wednesday, and single PROTHONOTARY WARBLERS
visited Sands Point Preserve Tuesday and Hempstead Lake State Park
today.
Single SUMMER TANAGERS appeared in Alley Pond Park Monday and in
Prospect Park today, while BLUE GROSBEAKS continue in the Calverton
area, including at the Prestons Pond Complex, with 1 also at Caumsett
State Park Saturday.
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.
