NYC area rarities

NYC area rarities - 2002

In late fall/early winter 2002 a nice crop of rare and unusual birds have turned up in the NYC area. I have managed to get photos of a few of these.

Yellow-breasted Chat in Bryant Park, Manhattan

Bryant Park is a once-neglected urban park on 42nd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, adjacent to the main NY Public Library. It seems to have undergone some sort of regeneration and all sorts of birds seem to have started using it (I saw Fox Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Hermit Thrush, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker when I was there). However what has really got people's attention is a Yellow-breasted Chat found in late October, which has persisted through the time of writing (Nov 27th).

This bird appears to be a first fall immature female, and agreeably tame.

Ross's Goose at Jones Beach

This bird is hanging out in a group of Canada Geese out at Zack's Bay and even in the median strip across from Lot 6. The photos clearly show the blue patch on the base of the upper mandible. The extent of black where the mandible meet is very limited, which rules out Snow Goose X Ross's Goose hybrid. Somewhat skittish, I took these photos from a distance with stacked teleconverters.

This bird is in full adult plumage. Comparison of Ross's with Snow Goose is shown on Greg Lasley's site and there are a couple of pictures of adults at birdphotography.com for comparison.

Rufous Hummingbird at Lenoir Preserve, Yonkers

This bird and this photo are discussed on my Hummingbirds page and included here for completeness.

To reiterate: it is unlikely that we will be able to determine whether this is a Rufous or Allen's Hummingbird - first fall females are the toughest to differentiate and even adult males can be somewhat of a challenge. Statistically it is almost certainly a Rufous (but this is a self-perpetuating argument ;)

Rufous/Allen's Hummingbird at Central Park, Manhattan

This bird and this photo are discussed on my Hummingbirds page and included here for completeness.

There appears to be a notch on the indside of tail feather R2 which strongly suggests that the Central Park bird was a Rufous. Despite quite a lot of marking on the gorget (none of it with a rufous color) the bird appears to be an immature female. This bird vanished as of 11/23/02.