NYC area rarities - 2002




All photos and text copyright © Phil Jeffrey, 2001-2010. I don't have an issue with personal use the images, but for all other uses please contact me.

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).

Yellow-breasted Chat

Yellow-breasted Chat

Yellow-breasted Chat

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 (the "grin patch") 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.

Ross's Goose

Ross's Goose

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. In the wild compared to Snow Goose the ID is helped by relative size - around NYC the Greater Snow Goose would be markedly larger. In TX the Lesser Snow Goose is still noticeably larger than Ross's Goose.


Rufous Hummingbird at Lenoir Preserve, Yonkers

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

Rufous Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

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.

Rufous/Allen's Hummingbird

Rufous/Allen's Hummingbird

Rufous/Allen's Hummingbird

There appears to be a notch on the indside of tail feather R2 which 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.