Date: 8/31/25 6:42 am From: Gabriel Willow <gabrielwillow...> Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] NYC Area RBA: 29 August 2025 - CORRECTED
Thanks for the correction and update, I thought I was losing it trying to find the shearwater details in the previous email.
I’m disappointed however to see the editorializing on bird name changes. I don’t think this alert is the appropriate place for these personal opinions.
But while we’re doing so, renaming Sargasso Shearwater after its unique and preferred habitat vs. after someone who, their artistic and ornithological merits notwithstanding, was a plagiarist, a fabulist, and a slave-owner was the right choice and a better one for conservation, education, and science.
Bird names change constantly based on taxonomic updates among other things. I don’t hear anyone decrying the loss of ‘Dusky-backed Shearwater’ when the Sargasso/ Borolo/ Little Shearwater complex were disentangled.
I look forward to upcoming name-corrections and to the rare bird alert listing rare birds, and not personal opinions.
Thanks as always for the hard work that goes into maintaining this list.
- Gabriel Willow
> On Aug 30, 2025, at 5:50 PM, Gail Benson <gbensonny...> wrote:
>
> -RBA
> * New York
> * New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
> * Aug. 29, 2025
> * NYNY2508.29
>
> - Birds Mentioned
> SCOPOLI’S SHEARWATER+
> SARGASSO SHEARWATER+
> (Details requested by NYSARC)
>
> Mute Swan
> Common Nighthawk
> Sora
> SANDHILL CRANE
> AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER
> Whimbrel
> HUDSONIAN GODWIT
> MARBLED GODWIT
> WILSON'S PHALAROPE
> RED-NECKED PHALAROPE
> Red Knot
> Stilt Sandpiper
> BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER
> White-rumped Sandpiper
> Pectoral Sandpiper
> Western Sandpiper
> Parasitic Jaeger
> Gull-billed Tern
> Caspian Tern
> Black Tern
> Royal Tern
> Wilson’s Storm-Petrel
> Cory’s Shearwater
> Great Shearwater
> Sooty Shearwater
> Great Shearwater
> Manx Shearwater
> AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN
> Olive-sided Flycatcher
> Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
> Red-breasted Nuthatch
> LARK SPARROW
> YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
> Bobolink
> GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER
> PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
> CONNECTICUT WARBLER
> Mourning Warbler
> Hooded Warbler
> Bay-breasted Warbler
> Blackpoll Warbler
> DICKCISSEL
>
> 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 CORRECTED New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday,
> August 29, 2025 at 11:00 pm. The highlights of today's tape are
> AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, SANDHILL CRANE, AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER,
> HUDSONIAN and MARBLED GODWITS, BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER, WILSON'S and
> RED-NECKED PHALAROPES, SCOPOLI'S and SARGASSO SHEARWATERS, LARK
> SPARROW, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, GOLDEN-WINGED, PROTHONOTARY and
> CONNECTICUT WARBLERS, DICKCISSEL and more.
>
> Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge continues to be a very productive
> destination despite the continuing higher than desired water level on
> the East Pond. The AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN continues usually at the
> north end of the pond, lurking there among the MUTE SWANS, though it
> does go elsewhere on occasion. Decent numbers of shorebirds on the
> pond, especially during high tide, have featured up to 3 each of
> RED-NECKED and WILSON'S PHALAROPES, moving between the north and south
> ends, and a good variety including a couple of MARBLED GODWITS, RED
> KNOT and STILT, WHITE-RUMPED, PECTORAL and WESTERN SANDPIPERS. A SORA
> also continues along the western shore of the south end, and watch for
> GULL-BILLED, CASPIAN and other TERNS there. Also check the West Pond.
>
> A couple of MARBLED GODWITS were on the flats at Mecox Wednesday, with
> another back at Jones Beach Field 10 today, and an HUDSONIAN GODWIT
> last Sunday visited Cupsogue Beach County Park, where today one BLACK,
> 2 CASPIAN and 125 ROYAL TERNS were present.
>
> Hawk season is beginning, and single SANDHILL CRANES have already
> flown by 2 local watches, the Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch at the Butler
> Sanctuary in Bedford Monday and the Quaker Ridge Hawkwatch at the
> Greenwich Audubon Center Tuesday.
>
> Other shorebirds this week featured 2 AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS at Crab
> Meadow Beach in Northport today, single WHIMBRELS out on Jamaica Bay
> Sunday, at Plumb Beach Monday and at Croton Point Park in Westchester
> Thursday, and a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER on the flats Sunday at Great
> Kills Park, where a young GULL-BILLED TERN visited during the week.
>
> Birders on the CRESLI whale-watching boats from Montauk last Sunday
> and Monday enjoyed decent numbers of pelagic birds, their combined
> totals including over 290 WILSON’S STORM-PETRELS, and for the
> SHEARWATERS about 85 CORY’S, 1 SCOPOLI’S, 3 SOOTY, over 130 GREAT, 2
> MANX and 1 SARGASSO plus 2 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES and 3 PARASITIC
> JAEGERS. The SARGASSO SHEARWATER is the former AUDUBON’S SHEARWATER
> caught up in the unfortunate recent trend of changing long-established
> bird names.
>
> A LARK SPARROW found Wednesday near Meadow Lake in Flushing
> Meadows-Corona Park was still present there Thursday.
>
> Single YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS were spotted in Central Park Sunday and
> Tuesday, with another found deceased Tuesday in lower Manhattan.
>
> A good selection of WARBLERS this week featured single GOLDEN-WINGEDS
> in Central Park Tuesday and Wednesday and another Wednesday in Battery
> Park, a male PROTHONOTARY in Central Park's Ramble Monday, and a
> CONNECTICUT nicely photographed at Marshlands Conservancy in Rye
> today. Decent numbers also included some arriving MOURNING, HOODED,
> BAY-BREASTED, and BLACKPOLL WARBLERS,
>
> This week's large variety of migrants included increasing numbers of
> COMMON NIGHTHAWKS in evening flights, several OLIVE-SIDED and some
> YELLOW-BELLIED and other FLYCATCHERS, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, BOBOLINK,
> and a few usually coastal DICKCISSELS often noted as they pass
> overhead early on, detected by their distinctive but sometimes
> embarrassing calls.
>
> 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
>
> --
>
> (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".")
>
> NYSbirds-L List Info:
> NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm
> NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsRULES_DOT_htm
> NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm
>
> ARCHIVES:
> 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/nysbirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html
> 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L
> 3) birding_DOT_aba_DOT_org/maillist/NY01
>
> Please submit your observations to eBird:
> ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/
>
> --
>
--
(copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".")
NYSbirds-L List Info:
NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm
NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsRULES_DOT_htm
NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm
