Hi all. On October 9, while birding the Kissena Corridor in Queens County, I had the unusual experience of being stumped by a bird I saw. It was a medium-sized finch with a small bill and lots of white in the sides of the the tail. It was brown, with a finely streaked breast washed with a vague buffy or rose color. Surrounding the eye was a broad pale brown area. I was not able to relocate the bird after my initial view, despite help from Eric Miller. I suspected it was a female-type Eurasian finch of some sort, so when I got home I checked my Mullarney, et al "Birds of Europe", and sure enough found that the bird is a dead ringer for Linnet (a.k.a. Common Linnet). I just got a call from Eric Miller saying he saw the bird today in the same general area and got a (lousy) photograph.
Before a stampede starts, please consider that there are no records of Linnet vagrancy in North America, to my knowledge. Also, Linnet is kept as a cage bird for its lovely voice, though not commonly. So it is likely that this bird is an escape from captivity. Nevertheless an interesting diversion. The general area of the sightings is the Kissena Corridor Park, between the Community Garden and the small artificial, fenced-in soccer field. This area was restored several years ago by the NYC Parks Department, and is now a diverse shrubby/weedy meadow. Coordinates of sightings thus far are as follows: 40.746766, -73.819783 40.746538, -73.818281 Seth Ausubel Forest Hills, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES 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://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
