Andrew, thanks for the reminder to post to nysbird; this sighting was well covered in the Lower Hudson region, but posting to the broader NY list slipped through the cracks. My apologies.
The bird was first sighted Saturday morning, 11/25/2023 by Della Wells, Alan Wells, Carol Weiss, and Julia Warger. It was actively searching and feeding in a large, bare oak tree just north of the ramp to the handicap accessible dock at the south end of parking lot #6 (known as the Fishing Station Parking Lot) at Rockland Lake State Park (free entrance). These coordinates should get you to the exact tree where it was first seen: 41.142868, -73.927493. (Note: aerial photos show two docks at Lot #6, however, the northernmost dock was removed about two months ago and the photos do not reflect this.) After about 10-15 minutes the bird flew to a group of trees just a few yards to the southwest where we lost track of it (41.142722, -73.927745). We posted it as Empidonax sp. on an eBird checklist immediately after we lost sight of it. Later that day, after examining the photos and discussions with several other birders familiar with Empid flycatchers, the designation was changed from Empidonax sp. to Hammond's Flycatcher on the basis of the tear-drop shaped eye ring, yellow lower mandible, long primary projections, and moderately developed crest. At dawn Sunday morning a large crowd had gathered (one estimate was about 40 people) and the bird was seen well; numerous photos and several audio recordings were made and submitted to eBird. Additional sightings were reported Tuesday. Della and I returned on Wednesday morning (11/29/2023) about 9 am and easily found the bird in the same tree as the initial sighting. I obtained a number of new photos, but no audio. It made occasional forays to nearby areas throughout the morning, but would return to the original oak tree after short absences. At times it would be searching only a foot or two off the ground. Throughout the morning we ran into about a dozen birders that had obtained good looks at the bird. We left about noon. A search of eBird records suggest only four previous NY records of this species: Jones Beach 10/26-27/2001; Marshlands Conservancy 11/19-25/2006; Central Park 11/26/2017 - 12/12/2017; Bashakill State WMA 12/10/20/2022 Good luck if you go! Alan Wells -- (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/ --
