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, April 3,
2026 at 11:00 pm.
The highlights of today's tape are BLACK-HEADED and ICELAND GULLS,
CASPIAN TERN, HARLEQUIN DUCK, LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, RED-HEADED
WOODPECKER, GAMBEL’S-type WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW and various earlier
spring migrants.
A slow week, with the doldrums hopefully coming to an end soon. Our
most interesting rarity possibly was the adult BLACK-HEADED GULL still
present around Frank Melville Memorial Park and Pond in Setauket at
least to Monday. An ICELAND GULL was also still visiting the Brooklyn
Army Terminal Pier 4 as of Thursday, and a few LESSER BLACK-BACKED
GULLS continue to be reported, while an interesting arrival featured a
CASPIAN TERN spotted Tuesday in the bay by the Croton-Harmon train
station in Westchester..
Out at Montauk Point, 6 HARLEQUIN DUCKS were spotted offshore
Saturday, and back at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge 2 LONG-BILLED
DOWITCHERS were noted visiting the West Pond Saturday through Monday.
NORTHERN GANNETS have been streaming east along Long Island’s south
shore in good numbers recently, but very few appearing in western Long
Island Sound have featured 5 off City Island in the Bronx Tuesday,
with just a few other scattered GANNET sightings this week, though a
RED-NECKED GREBE was also spotted off City Island today.
An adult RED-HEADED WOODPECKER continues near the shore at Marshlands
Conservancy in Rye, and a GAMBEL'S-type WHITE CROWNED SPARROW was
still visiting Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery today, lingering in
bushes east of Sylvan Waters .
Among the recently arriving migrants this week have been VIRGINIA
RAIL, SOLITARY and SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, LITTLE BLUE HERON, WHITE-EYED
and BLUE-HEADED VIREOS, MARSH WREN, and a BLACK-THROATED GREEN
WARBLER, this in Prospect Park Monday.
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.
