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, June 26,
2026 at 11:00 pm. The highlights of today’s tape are WHITE-FACED IBIS,
BROWN PELICAN, ARCTIC TERN, various seabirds including MANX
SHEARWATER, RED-NECKED and WILSON’S PHALAROPES, WESTERN CATTLE EGRET,
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, SUMMER TANAGER, BLUE GROSBEAK, DICKCISSEL and
more.
The adult WHITE-FACED IBIS continues its visits to the East Pond at
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, usually seen with GLOSSY IBIS at the
south end of the East Pond, where a WILSON’S PHALAROPE was also still
present last Saturday.
One or two BROWN PELICANS were spotted in Brooklyn from Tuesday on off
the Coney Island Pier as well as around Breezy Point through today,
but more unusual from the Pier were a MANX SHEARWATER seen cruising
offshore from Tuesday through Thursday and a WILSON’S STORM-PETREL
also frequenting that area from Tuesday and still there today. Other
BROWN PELICANS included 2 visiting Moriches Bay around Cupsogue Beach
County Park Saturday to Monday and also 2 off Robert Moses State Park
on Monday.
An exciting sea watch from Robert Moses State Park Field 2 for much of
the morning today produced a flock of 10 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES flying
by in a westerly direction, a PARASITIC JAEGER, a dozen WILSON’S
STORM-PETRELS, and among the SHEARWATERS, 57 SOOTY and 6 GREAT as well
as a couple of SCOPOLI’S identified among the 90 CORY’S/SCOPOLI’S
individuals counted, the majority of this recently split complex
certainly mostly CORY’S but providing quite an identification
challenge until definitive useable separating field marks can be
developed and reliably applied under field conditions. Also noted at
Moses were 1 or 2 ARCTIC TERNS during the week, often seen out at
Democrat Point, as well as a couple of BLACK, ROSEATE, and ROYAL
TERNS, a CASPIAN TERN Sunday and a few LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS.
Some GULL-BILLED TERNS have been frequenting Jamaica Bay Wildlife
Refuge recently, with another at Cupsogue Beach County Park Tuesday,
and a lingering GLAUCOUS GULL was at Breezy Point at least to Monday.
A WESTERN CATTLE EGRET flew by Idlewild Park east of the JFK Airport
on Monday.
Continuing are an ACADIAN FLYCATCHER in Prospect Park and a
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT on Staten Island near the Graham Boulevard Bridge
at the New Creek Watershed. On Long Island both SUMMER TANAGER and
BLUE GROSBEAK can still be found around the Prestons Pond Complex in
Calverton, and a DICKCISSEL was reported on Governors Island last
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.
