February Birds

During the month of February I added 11 more species to my NYC year list. All were in Brooklyn and three are considered either uncommon or rare in the city or state.

I knew that finding addition species during the month of February wouldn't be easy, so was very happy with the way it turned out. Some birds, such as, Swamp Sparrow, Greater Yellowlegs and Cedar Waxwing, are pretty common later in the year and would definitely end up on my year list at some point. I'd only seen Barrow's Goldeneye a couple of times in New York State and was able to track it down on my second search at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. It took three trips to Coney Island before the Western Grebe was found. The only other time I'd seen a Western Grebe in New York City was nearly a decade ago on Staten Island. Ironically, that bird was also seen while with my friend Shane. Another nice find was of a Lesser Black-backed Gull on Prospect Lake in Prospect Park. It is not a bird that is seen in Brooklyn every year. I'd like to have a complete list of waterfowl by the end of the year, but that would require finding Eurasian Wigeon, Blue-winged Teal, Redhead, King Eider, Common Eider and Harlequin Duck. With a little luck, I could probably add three out of the six.

103) Lesser Black-backed Gull (Prospect Park, 02/05/10)
104) Swamp Sparrow (Prospect Park, 02/05/10)
105) Barrow's Goldeneye (Jamaica Bay West--Brooklyn, 02/08/10)
106) Western Grebe (Coney Island Pier, 02/20/10)
107) Greater Yellowlegs (Marine Park Saltmarsh Nature Center, 02/20/10)
108) Orange-crowned Warbler (Hendrix Creek, 02/20/10)
109) Cedar Waxwing (Prospect Park, 02/21/10)
110) Common Merganser (Prospect Park, 02/23/10)
111) Fish Crow (Veterans Memorial Pier, 02/27/10)
112) Snow Bunting (Veterans Memorial Pier, 02/27/10)
113) Red-shouldered Hawk (Prospect Park, 02/28/10)