At 9:01 a.m. today I accidentally flushed a SHORT-EARED OWL from its nearby perch on the rocky northeast shore of Randall's Island. It flew around the bay, harassed by gulls, for a few minutes and then went out of sight. Within five minutes it returned to perch on a large rock not far from me as I stood on the shore, and it remained there for awhile in plain view. I never saw it fly off, but it did go out of view, presumably choosing a more concealed, lower position on the rocks. Not wanting to risk flushing it again by searching, I moved on.
The species is ultra-rare for Manhattan, with the only eBird records being several from morning migratory flight, 2009-2011. An observation from Central Park, from either 1995 or 1996, is mentioned in this New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/25/nyregion/central-park-is-a-festival-of-odd-birds-275-species-sighted-in-watchers-heaven.html I also had a female BLACK SCOTER at the same location, rare for Manhattan and not reported every year despite being common in the winter in other NYC boroughs. David Barrett www.bigmanhattanyear.com -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
