Treehugger Tuesday

You can watch the documentary "Revenge of the Electric Car" (the follow up to "Who Killed the Electric Car") for free via Hulu:

Upcoming Nature Trips

Below is a list of upcoming nature trips within NYC's five boroughs for the weekend of January 28, 2012 - January 29, 2012:

Audubon Center in Prospect Park (Brooklyn)
Saturday, February 4, 2012

Introduction to Birdwatching
Every Saturday, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
Free Explore the Park's natural areas and learn how to look for amazing birds. Introduction to Birdwatching

Sunday, February 5, 2012, 10 a.m.
Early Morning Bird Walk: Backyard Birds
Free See the birds that call the Park home all winter. Start your Sunday morning surrounded by nature! Morning Bird Walk

Discover Tour
Every Sunday, 3 p.m.
Free Discover the Prospect Park you never knew! Meet birds and other wildlife on this walk, guided by a naturalist.

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Brooklyn Bird Club
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Prospect Park
Meet 8:00 am at Grand Army Plaza entrance (Stranahan Statue)
Trip Leader: TBA
Focus: winter species, raptors, waterfowl

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New York Botanical Garden (Bronx)
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center

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New York City Audubon Society
Saturday, February 4, 2012, 8:00am – 9:30am
Van Cortlandt Bird Walk
Guide: Andrew Baksh or Urban Park Rangers. With the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, and Urban Park Rangers. Meet at Van Cortlandt Nature Center. The history of birding and Van Cortlandt Park are inseparable. Influential birders such as Roger Tory Peterson and Allan D. Cruickshank got their starts on Van Cortlandt’s ecologically diverse grounds. These walks celebrate the tradition set forth by these great ornithologists. Participants will look for various species of residents and migrants and discuss a wide range of avian topics. For more information, please call 718-548-0912. No registration necessary. No limit. Free.

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Protectors of Pine Oak Woods (Staten Island)
Saturday, February 4, 2012, 12 noon to 2:00 p.m.
Long Pond Park
Evidence of animal life as well geologic history and human influence will be observed as we take an unhurried stroll on a one and a half mile walk through Long Pond Park. Meet at PS 6, on Page Avenue and Academy Avenue, about 3 blocks northwest of Hylan Blvd.
For more information call Clay Wollney at 718-869-6327.

Sunday, February 5, 2012, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Super Bowl Owl Prowl at Pouch Camp
Join owl enthusiast, Cliff Hagen, for the 3rd annual Super Bowl Owl Prowl, a chance to seek out, listen to and possibly watch our nocturnal neighbors of Pouch Camp. Meet in the Nevada Avenue parking lot of High Rock Park. Though flashlights are not necessary, they are acceptable.
For more details call Cliff Hagen at 718-313-8591.

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Urban Park Rangers
Saturday, February 4, 2012

Bird Walks
8:00 a.m.
Focus on wildlife happenings in the park with NYC Audubon experts and the Urban Park...
Location: Van Cortlandt Nature Center (in Van Cortlandt Park), Bronx
Free

Removal of Invasive Bittersweet at Van Cortlandt Park
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Join us at the Van Cortlandt Park Nature Center to help remove bittersweet, an invasive...
Location: Van Cortlandt Nature Center (in Van Cortlandt Park), Bronx
Free

Wilderness Survival
11:00 a.m.
What would you do if you found yourself lost in the woods? Do you know how to build your...
Location: Van Cortlandt Nature Center (in Van Cortlandt Park), Bronx
Free

Birding: Winter Birds
1:00 p.m.
New York City is home to an amazing abundance of wildlife. From falcons and salamanders, to...
Location: Fort Greene Park Visitor Center (in Fort Greene Park), Brooklyn
Free


The Night Sky
6:00 p.m.
The wonders of the universe are ready to be discovered and New York City parks are the...
Location: Wolfe's Pond Park Comfort Station (in Wolfes Pond Park), Staten Island
Free

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Wilderness Survival
12:00 p.m.
What would you do if you found yourself lost in the woods? Do you know how to build your...
Location: Belvedere Castle (in Central Park), Manhattan
Free

Animal Tracks Exploration
1:00 p.m.
New York City is home to an amazing abundance of wildlife. From falcons and salamanders, to...
Location: Fort Totten Visitor's Center (in Fort Totten Park), Queens
Free

Nature Exploration: Hunter Island (Moderate)
1:00 p.m.
Hiking is the ultimate way to enjoy the outdoors and reduce stress. Regardless of the...
Location: Orchard Beach Nature Center (in Pelham Bay Park-Orchard Beach), Bronx
Free ...Read more

Friday's Foto

The glossy feathers of this Common Grackle bathing in a puddle iridesced in the late-day sun, highlighting this specie's metallic hues of bronze, purple, blue and green. Uncommon in NYC parks in the winter, there is currently a flock of about 500 hanging around the south edge of Brooklyn's Prospect Park.

Brooklyn Alcid

My friend Peter reported that a very unusual seabird was recently found along Brooklyn's coast.

On January 13th, an injured Dovekie was spotted by the foreman at a construction site at Bush Terminal. The collapsing piers in this area are being turned into a park, fortunately for this little bird, there were caring people around. This stretch of waterfront is closed off to the public so, normally, this former industrial park would be nearly devoid of human. I did a waterfowl count here a few years ago and found that hundreds of ducks are drawn to the old dilapidated wharfs. There was also a very scary-looking pack of feral dogs wandering around.

The foreman called the city's 311 line, who put him in touch with a certified wildlife rehabilitator. Peter didn't have any other information about the condition of this tiny bird, who should have been way out at sea, not in New York Harbor. I sent a note to Cathy Horvath to see if she and Bobby had the Dovekie or any information. Here was her response:

Date: January 23, 2012
To: Rob Jett
Subject: Re: Brooklyn Dovekie!

Hey Rob, No we didn't get this little wonder. I wish I knew who has it. I see the injury and these little ones are tough to rehab. You really have to work on getting them to eat. when they arrive around here they are dehydrated and starving, near death. I make a bait fish smoothie and tube feed them. If you hear anything, please let me know. I will take it. Thanks, Cathy

Mmmm, bait fish smoothie...

I'll post an update as soon as I learn more. ...Read more

"Tons" of Birds

Like many people, too often I'll use the word "ton" to indicate a large quantity of something. In birding it's not unusual to hear the expression, "There were tons of (insert bird species here) in the park today." Back in the early days of this blog I wrote a mildly humorous piece on the subject reposted here:

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A Ton of Kinglets

I have a bad habit of referring to a large quantity of birds as a "ton" of birds. For example, within the last week large numbers of Ruby-crowned Kinglets have been moving through Prospect Park. These tiny, energetic birds have been eating their way through the park on their way north. When a friend asked me about the recent status of the migration in the park I reported to him that there were suddenly a ton of kinglets around.

I began to think about my use of the specific quantitative evaluation when it probably would have been more accurate if I had used more general terms like "abundant" or "fairly common". Could there have been literally a ton of those four inch long balls of feathers in Prospect Park's 526 acres? I decided to do the math.

The "Sibley Guide to Birds" lists the average weight of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet as 6.5 grams. There is a little over 453 grams to a pound:

453.59237 * 2000 = 907184.74
907184.74 / 6.5 = 139566.8830769231

Number of Ruby-crowned Kinglets it takes to equal a ton = 139,567.

It seems unlikely that there would ever be a ton of kinglets in Prospect Park. Maybe the next time someone asks I'll just say a busload. The results did start me thinking, though. I wonder how many pounds of bugs 139,000 kinglets could eat in a day...

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With that in mind, fast forward to last week. My friend Sean sent me an email about a huge flock of Common Mergansers that he and a neighbor observed at Canoe Brook Reservoir #3 in New Jersey. He followed that up with the following note:

From: Sean Sime
Date: January 21, 2012
Subject: you would appreciate

So after my neighbor Andy and I saw that merganser flock I get a text from him saying that if a merganser is just over 3lbs on average, there must have been about 10 tons of duck out there!

Having tried in vain for years-to see a ton of birds with you, it was sad to finally reach this goal without you.

ss ...Read more

Treehugger Tuesday

From the website "The Symphony of Science":

"The Symphony of Science is a musical project of John D Boswell, designed to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form."

Below is his latest video.

Upcoming Nature Trips

Below is a list of upcoming nature trips within NYC's five boroughs for the weekend of January 28, 2012 - January 29, 2012:

Bedford Audubon Society
Saturday, January 28, 2012, 9 am – 12 pm
Excursion to Pelham Bay Park, Bronx
with BAS Board Member and Westmoreland Naturalist Adam Zorn
With its 2,766 acres, Pelham Bay Park is New York City’s largest park. It features an impressive number of waterfowl, landbirds, and owls, for which this park is especially well known. Monk Parakeets are present, too! Join our knowledgeable Board Member in the hunt for these elusive birds. (E)
Depart Bylane Farm at 8:00 am.

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New York Botanical Garden (Bronx)
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center

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New York City Audubon Society
Saturday, January 28, 2012, 8:00am – 9:30am
Van Cortlandt Bird Walk
Guide: Andrew Baksh or Urban Park Rangers. With the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, and Urban Park Rangers. Meet at Van Cortlandt Nature Center. The history of birding and Van Cortlandt Park are inseparable. Influential birders such as Roger Tory Peterson and Allan D. Cruickshank got their starts on Van Cortlandt’s ecologically diverse grounds. These walks celebrate the tradition set forth by these great ornithologists. Participants will look for various species of residents and migrants and discuss a wide range of avian topics. For more information, please call 718-548-0912. No registration necessary. No limit. Free.

Saturday, January 28, 2012, 10:30am – 4:00pm
Snow Birds of Floyd Bennett Field and Fort Tilden
Guide: Joe Giunta (Note: Gabriel Willow was originally scheduled to lead this trip.) Winter brings many rare birds to NYC that can’t be found here at any other time. Perhaps most exciting are the “snow birds” of the Arctic tundra that can occasionally be found in tundra-like habitats further south, such as snow buntings and snowy owls. We will travel to Floyd Bennett Field in search of these and other winter visitors (such as horned lark, tree sparrow, and rough-legged hawk). We will then head to Fort Tilden and Breezy Point to look for wintering ducks, grebes, loons, and other seabirds. Transport by passenger van included. Limited to 12. $75
Click here to register

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Protectors of Pine Oak Woods (Staten Island)
Saturday, January 28, 2012, 9:45a.m. to 3:45p.m.
Annual Ten Mile Winter Walk of the Staten Island Greenbelt
Come join others who enjoy a cold day outdoors. It is ten moderate miles at a comfortable pace. Meet at the beginning of the Blue Line Trail at the end of Staten Island Boulevard, off Ocean Terrace by the Sunnyside campus of Petrides complex. Bring lunch and beverage and sturdy walking shoes. Dress warmly in layers. We go in all weather. Come see what the winter woodland has to offer; winter birds, bare forest trees, frozen ponds, evergreens and possible snow.
For more information call Dominick Durso at 917-478-7607 or Don Recklies at 718-768-9036.

Saturday, January 28, 2012, 12 noon to 2:00 p.m.
Old Mill Road
We’ll follow the multi-use trail overlooking Fresh Kills, pass the famous Hessian Spring as it crosses the path and view Fresh Kills estuary and work our way to the remains of Ketchum’s Mill. We’ll observe traces of the past, examine the present woodland ecosystems and search for evidence of present inhabitants especially deer. Meet in the lot alongside St. Andrew’s Church on Old Mill Road.
For more information phone Clay Wollney at 718-869-6327.

Saturday, January 28, 2012, 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Bird Feeders of Blue Heron Park
Watch the comings and goings of wintering birds from inside the warm comforts of the Blue Heron Park Nature Center. Discuss ways to attract birds to feeders, the benefits of offering a variety of food types and the needs of our wintering feathered friends.
Meet inside the Blue Heron Park Nature Center on Poillon Avenue. For more information call Ellen Pratt at 718-948-2662.

Sunday, January 29, 2012, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Owl Prowl at Blue Heron Park
Join owl enthusiast, Cliff Hagen, for a dark, quiet walk along the snow-covered trails of Blue Heron Park in search of the sounds of courtship in the frozen woods. Listen for the deep hoots and soft whinnies of Great horned and Screech owls that reside in our island’s parks. Meet in the Blue Heron Park Nature Center parking lot. Though flashlights are not necessary, they are acceptable.
For more information call Cliff Hagen at 718-313-8591.

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South Shore Audubon Society
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Pelham Bay Park
All walks start at 9:30 A.M.
There is no walk if it rains or snows or temperature is below 25°F.
Any questions please Call Steve at (516) 987-8103.
For directions to our bird-watching locations, click here.

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Urban Park Rangers
Saturday, January 28, 2012

Bird Walks
8:00 a.m.
Focus on wildlife happenings in the park with NYC Audubon experts and the Urban Park...
Location: Van Cortlandt Nature Center (in Van Cortlandt Park), Bronx
Free!

Seal Exploration
10:00 a.m.
New York City is home to an amazing abundance of wildlife. From falcons and salamanders, to...
Location: Orchard Beach Nature Center (in Pelham Bay Park), Bronx
Free!

Wilderness Survival
1:00 p.m.
What would you do if you found yourself lost in the woods? Do you know how to build your...
Location: Forest Park Visitor Center (in Forest Park), Queens
Free!

Beginning Beekeeping at Wave Hill
1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Thriving beehives exist in community gardens, backyards and on rooftops throughout New York...
Location: Ecology Building (in Wave Hill), Bronx

Astronomy
6:00 p.m.
The wonders of the universe are ready to be discovered and New York City parks are the...
Location: Salt Marsh Nature Center (in Marine Park), Brooklyn
Free!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Birding: Eagles
8:00 a.m.
New York City is home to an amazing abundance of wildlife. From falcons and salamanders, to...
Location: Inwood Hill Nature Center (in Inwood Hill Park), Manhattan
Free!

Wilderness Survival
11:00 a.m.
What would you do if you found yourself lost in the woods? Do you know how to build your...
Location: Blue Heron Nature Center (in Blue Heron Park), Staten Island
Free!

Moses Mountain Hike
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Join the Greenbelt Environmental Educators on a peaceful hike to the top of Moses Mountain...
Location: Greenbelt Nature Center (in Blood Root Valley), Staten Island
Free!

Garden and Conservatory Walk at Wave Hill
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Join us for an hour-long tour of seasonal garden highlights.
Location: Perkins Visitors Center (in Wave Hill), Bronx

Astronomy
6:00 p.m.
The wonders of the universe are ready to be discovered and New York City parks are the...
Location: Fort Totten Visitor's Center (in Fort Totten Park), Queens
Free! ...Read more

A Few Bird Pics

Here are some Brooklyn photos taken over the last few weeks that have been sitting in a folder on my desktop. I never got around to writing the stories attached to them:

Brooklyn Eagles

I received a text from Doug Gochfeld Wednesday morning that he was looking at an adult Bald Eagle in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. The bird was circling Prospect Lake. I rushed into the park, but by the time I got to the lake it was nowhere to be found.

I sat at the edge of the lake hoping the bird would return, but after a 35 minute vigil I headed back across the park, eagle-less. I ran into Doug near the Maryland Monument and we stood talking for a few minutes. From that location there is an obstructed view of the lake, so when we saw all the gulls and geese take flight, we hurried down Wellhouse Drive towards the commotion. As we passed the Peninsula Meadow, to our left, we spotted a third year Bald Eagle flying towards us. I should note that the eagle seen by Doug earlier was an adult. The raptor continued flying above us and over Lookout Hill. About 3 minutes later, as we walked to the edge of the lake, we observed a second Bald Eagle soaring over the lake. This one was an adult bird and likely the same individual Doug spotted earlier as he noted that it was missing a flight feather on its right wing.

It appears that there has been an adult Bald Eagle hanging around Brooklyn since last Fall. Peter Dorosh posted a photo of one seen in Bush Terminal late last October (not far from Green-Wood Cemetery). Joe DiCostanzo spotted one in Green-Wood Cemetery on a Thanksgiving stroll. Marge Raymond photographed one in Green-Wood Cemetery while leading a tour on December 7th. Subsequent to that there were several unsubstantiated sightings in the cemetery by landscape workers, but then someone photographed it on January 6th and posted the image here.

Bald Eagles aren't a super-rarity in New York City as there are usually a few sightings of migrating individuals each year. To have one hanging around Brooklyn, however, is very unusual and kinda cool. I wonder if the newspaper "The Brooklyn Eagle", which began in 1841, took their name because Bald Eagles could be seen around coastal Brooklyn in the 19th century.

Here's a good photo page that shows the five-year plumage transition of Bald Eagles.

It should be noted that Doug said a close inspection of his photos showed that both eagles were banded. If you see any Bald Eagles around Brooklyn look for bands and, if possible, note any numbers. ...Read more

Friday's Foto

The Northern Mockingbird is one of three species of mimic thrushes regularly found around New York City. Mockingbirds are a pugnacious species and will vigorously defend their territory against any perceived threat. I've witnessed, on many occasions, one of these robin-sized gray birds attempting to drive off a Red-tailed Hawk by repeatedly hitting it on the back of the head. Look for these birds in winter safeguarding their claimed fruiting tree, shrub or vine. This individual was in the vicinity of a stand of Yew trees.

Snow Goose Reunion

...sort of. As a follow up to the Snow Goose story, I brought Marge over to Coney Island Creek to look for her possible former ward. Our hope was that it would hear her voice, remember the care she gave this goose from 2005-2009 and come running (with a sappy orchestral crescendo playing in the background). Apparently those things only happen in the movies.

We quickly relocated the Canada Goose flock with the lone Snow Goose feeding on the field at Six Diamonds Park, across Coney Island Creek from Mark Twain Junior High School. Marge slowly approached the flock and began calling "Mommy", her name for the goose with the bent wing. At one point it appeared that the bird recognized her, even calling a few times, but then went back to eating grass. Marge thought that, perhaps, the goose just couldn't hear her. I didn't think that was the case and remarked that the deceased over in Green-Wood Cemetery could probably hear her. A minute later a raptor flew over the field and the panicked birds all flew off to the safety of the creek.

Treehugger Tuesday

Queens Greenway Proposal

The organization "Friends of the Queensway" has been building support for the creation of the borough of Queens' version of "Highline Park". From their petition page:

"A 3.5 mile stretch of the old Rockaway Beach Branch railroad right-of-way currently lies abandoned in Central and Southern Queens. Over the past 60 years, since rail service ended, it has become a dumping ground for garbage, abandoned cars and other debris, and is one of the largest tracts of unused land in an area populated by hundreds of thousands.

An incredible opportunity exists to transform this abandoned, unsightly and in many places hazardous space into a beautiful 3.5 mile public park extending south from Rego Park to Ozone Park. A multi-use path would provide a recreational and commuter corridor through Rego Park, Forest Hills, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Ozone Park. It would link these communities with Forest Park and the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway and to nearby bike lanes leading to the recreational spaces of Rockaway Beach and Jamaica Bay, including the Shore Parkway path, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and Gateway National Recreation Area. It would also connect at least five subway lines and numerous commercial districts, shops and schools. greenspace, sports facilities and community gardens could be created for family recreation and for use by the several schools along the route. A safe bicycle route parallel to Woodhaven and Crossbay Blvd.'s would exist so that people could ride to school, go shopping, visit friends, reach public transportation or simply enjoy a sunny day."

Check out their Facebook page here.

Return of our Snow Goose?

Back on December 9th Heydi and I discovered a Ross's Goose on Coney Island Creek. A few minutes later we spotted an American Avocet (and quickly forgot about the goose). Within a day the Ross's Goose disappeared only to be replaced by the very similar Snow Goose. At first, some of us suspected that the Ross's was just being misidentified as a Snow. It wasn't until Shane took a photograph of the "replacement" goose that we realized that it was, indeed, a Snow Goose. It was a peculiar situation for a couple of reasons. First, it is very unusual for either species of white goose to be present on Coney Island Creek. Second, to have one take off just as the other, extremely similar, species arrived succeeded in confusing more that a few birders. But this odd story doesn't end there.

Once Shane sent me the photo of the Snow Goose, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to create a posting that compares the two white geese of Coney Island Creek. It wasn't until I had been looking at the Snow Goose photo for a while that I realized that there was an even more interesting story to be told, but first let's look at these two birds. The top photo is of the Snow Goose, the lower is the Ross's Goose. Both are nearly all white with black wing tips. The most obvious difference between the two species is the bill size and shape. The Ross's has a much smaller, shorter bill with little or no "grin patch". The bill is also more triangular than the Snow's (specifically, a right triangle). Note also that the Ross's often has a bluish color to the base. The Ross's also has a smallish, rounded head. Notice the steep slope of the Snow Goose's head. I don't know if it's typical of all Ross's Goose, but this individual also seems to have a very small eye.

Overall size is also important in separating the Ross's Goose from the Snow Goose. While the size of a single bird foraging or floating in the water is difficult to judge, both of these birds were associating with a flock of Canada Geese making it much easier. Note their sizes in these photos next to the canadas. The Snow Goose is nearly the size of the Canada Goose, while the Ross's could fit inside of one. Here are their proportions from "The Sibley Guide to Birds":

Ross's Goose - lg: 23" ws: 45" wt: 2.7 lb
Snow Goose (lesser) - lg: 28" ws: 53" wt: 5.3 lb
                   (greater) - lg: 31" ws: 56" wt: 7.4 lb

Even keeping in mind the large size range for Snow Geese, there is still a significant difference in bulk between the Ross's Goose and the Snow Goose. There is nothing better than field experience for learning to separate these two similar birds, but given the Ross's Goose rarity around New York City, I hope this helps. Now for the other part of this Brooklyn story.

During the Fall migration of 2005 a Snow Goose with an injured wing appeared in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. The advice I received at the time was to leave the bird alone because the difficulty involved in trying to capture it could have made the wing worse. My friend Marge began bringing the goose cracked corn and, eventually, the goose settled into a non-migratory routine in the landmark cemetery. I wrote all about her in this posting. By 2009 she began wandering farther and farther from the cemetery's Sylvan Water with her adopted flock of Canada Geese. Her right wing healed, somewhat, but still had a noticeable droop. Whenever Marge showed up with cracked corn, the Snow Goose would hurry to her car for a free handout. She would sometimes even glide down to the lake from the surrounding hillsides or make short flights of limited elevation. Then one day in 2009 Marge called to say that "Mommy" (her name for the goose) was missing from the Sylvan Water and she couldn't find her anywhere in the cemetery. We never saw her again, which brings me back to the lone Snow Goose now residing in Coney Island Creek. Take a look at the tip of the right wing in both the Green-Wood Cemetery photos and the Coney Island photos. Normally, the black wingtips of a Snow Goose cross over above their tail. Could we have finally found "Mommy"? There is only one way to be absolutely certain. The Green-Wood Cemetery bird responded to Marge's voice. Whenever she would go to the cemetery to feed him/her, she would shout in a sing-song voice, with a distinctive Brooklyn accent, "Mooommmy!" The small white goose with the crooked wing would rush towards her mumbling a nasal "whouk, whouk, whouk, whouk, whouk" the whole time. Marge and I will go to Coney Island Creek and, before she begins to call her old friend, I'll be sure to have the video rolling. ...Read more

Upcoming Nature Trips

Below is a list of upcoming nature trips within NYC's five boroughs for the weekend of January 21, 2012 - January 22, 2012:

New York Botanical Garden (Bronx)
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center

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Linnaean Society of New York
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Pelham Bay Park For Owls
Leader: Rob Jett a.k.a. The City Birder
Registrar: Louise Fraza (louisefraza [AT] yahoo.com)
Registration opens Monday 1/9.
Ride: $15.

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New York City Audubon Society
Saturday, January 21, 2012, 8:00am – 9:30am
Van Cortlandt Bird Walk
Guide: Andrew Baksh or Urban Park Rangers. With the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, and Urban Park Rangers. Meet at Van Cortlandt Nature Center. The history of birding and Van Cortlandt Park are inseparable. Influential birders such as Roger Tory Peterson and Allan D. Cruickshank got their starts on Van Cortlandt’s ecologically diverse grounds. These walks celebrate the tradition set forth by these great ornithologists. Participants will look for various species of residents and migrants and discuss a wide range of avian topics. For more information, please call 718-548-0912. No registration necessary. No limit. Free.

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Protectors of Pine Oak Woods (Staten Island)
Saturday, January 21, 2012, 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Forest Restoration Workshop in the Egbertville Ravine
Meet at the entry road to the Eger Home close to the intersection of Manor Road and Rockland Avenue. We will collect trash from the borders of the pond and the wooded edges of the roads. Protectors will supply bags and, if you don’t have your own, gloves. After a two hour work session (our 187th consecutive monthly workshop), we will take a short walk over nearby trails.
For more information call Don Recklies at 718-768-9036 or Chuck Perry at 718-667-1393.

Sunday, January 22, 2012, 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Nature Center to Egbertville Ravine
Meet at the Nature Center at Rockland and Brielle. We will follow the White Trail south to Nevada Avenue and back. Those interested in a shorter walk can meet us at 12:00 noon at the side of Meisner Road (toward the Eger Home) by the intersection of Meisner and Rockland.
Call Hillel Lofaso at 781-751-6629 for more details.

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Urban Park Rangers
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Bird Walks
8:00 a.m.
Focus on wildlife happenings in the park with NYC Audubon experts and the Urban Park...
Location: Van Cortlandt Nature Center (in Van Cortlandt Park), Bronx
Free!

Nature Exploration (Light)
11:00 a.m.
Hiking is the ultimate way to enjoy the outdoors and reduce stress. Regardless of the...
Location: Conference House Park Visitors Center (in Conference House Park), Staten Island
Free!

Wilderness Survival
1:00 p.m.
What would you do if you found yourself lost in the woods? Do you know how to build your...
Location: Inwood Hill Nature Center (in Inwood Hill Park), Manhattan
Free!

Plant Survival Strategies: Part 4 of Your Park Is Nature's Classroom for Kids
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Ever wonder how your favorite park's trees survive big city life? Join environmental...
Location: Inwood Hill Nature Center (in Inwood Hill Park), Manhattan

Astronomy
6:00 p.m.
The wonders of the universe are ready to be discovered and New York City parks are the...
Location: Van Cortlandt Nature Center (in Van Cortlandt Park), Bronx
Free!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Freshkills Park January Birding Tour
10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Join us for our first tour of 2012 as we search for the birds of Freshkills Park along the...
Location: Eltingville Transit Center (in Freshkills Park), Staten Island
Free!

Garden and Conservatory Walk at Wave Hill
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Join us for an hour-long tour of seasonal garden highlights.
Location: Perkins Visitors Center (in Wave Hill), Bronx ...Read more

2011 Friday's Fotos

Here's a short slideshow of all of last year's "Friday's Fotos". The music is David Gilmour "Smile" from his "On an Island" album:

Friday's Foto

One of several species of raptors that call Brooklyn home during the winter, this Cooper's Hawk was surveying the bird feeders in Prospect Park.

Coney Island Trip

This past Saturday I lead a trip for the Brooklyn Bird Club to Coney Island. As you probably know from recent postings, this has become my new favorite winter spot for exploring wildlife. The weather on Saturday felt more like early-Spring than early-January, so offshore diversity was less than typical for this time of year, however we still managed to see many of the expected winter coastal species.

Our group of eleven met at the conveniently located Dunkin' Donuts in the Stillwell Avenue, Coney Island train station. People-wise, Coney Island is a place to expect the unexpected and most individuals, no matter how "different" they appear, rarely get a second look. However, our small group, loaded down with binoculars, spotting scopes and various types of camera equipment seemed to draw an inordinate amount of stares and over-the-shoulder gazes. One would think that after the Gray-hooded Gull birder's circus over the past summer that Coney Islanders would be used to us.

Our route took us from Stillwell Avenue to the fishing pier, west to the last jetty before the gated community of Sea Gate, then north along West 37th Street to Coney Island Creek Park.

We scanned the water from the boardwalk before heading out onto the pier and found that there was an unusual number of Northern Gannets present. Normally flocks of these large diving birds can only be found on the ocean off of the Rockaway Peninsula, with small numbers venturing into the bay on strong south winds. Yes, despite its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Coney Island is inside of the Rockaway Inlet and, technically, on the Lower New York Bay. For that reason, the beaches there don't see the large waves that surfers enjoy along the Rockaway Peninsula. Also, the large number of scoters (and occasionally eiders) that can be seen on the ocean from locations, such as, Breezy Point or Fort Tilden are only seen from time to time off of Coney Island. Anyway, I decided to walk out to the end of the Steeplechase Pier to see if we could get better looks at the gannets and any other seabirds as there were a lot of birds that were just too far off to identify positively.

I've never managed to take any decent photos of a gannet, but here's a really nice one by my friend Steve Nanz:



From the edge of the boardwalk to the end of the fishing pier is nearly 1/4 mile. Scanning from out over the water at that distance actually makes a big different when one is looking at little specks of birdlife on and above the water. We walked out to the end of the T-shaped wharf. Fishermen lining the edges of the pier jiggled their lines hoping to snag Atlantic Herring. When space opened up at the end of the pier we set up our scopes and scanned the flocks of plunging gulls and lines of flying seaducks. We quickly spotted both Common and Red-throated Loons. I've noticed that one Common Loon seems has taken up residence in the water just below the fishermen and has been hanging around the pier since November. Is it possible that this smart loon noticed that the fishermen attract schools of fish with their rows of shiny, dancing lures? The most abundant duck off the pier appeared to be Red-breasted Merganser, with flocks numbering in the hundreds. Smaller numbers of Long-tailed Ducks were relatively close to the beach.

After about 20 minutes on the pier we headed down onto the sand for the walk to the west end. We stopped briefly below the old parachute ride tower to look at a Peregrine Falcon spotted earlier sitting high on the structure.

I explained to the group that the majority of gulls encountered sitting on the beach along the route are Ring-billed Gulls. There are also small numbers of Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls. However, there is always the possibility of a rare gull appearing, so it is important to at least do a quick scan of these abundant birds. Over the last couple of years some unusual gulls found in Brooklyn are Black-headed Gull, Mew Gull, Iceland Gull and the uber-rarity Gray-hooded Gull. One somewhat rare gull that has been showing up around coastal New York in increasing frequency is the Lesser Black-backed Gull. Heydi and I spotted a juvenile lesser black-backed in Coney Island on January 2nd. I was hoping I'd be able to relocate it for the group on Saturday.

The nearly 1 mile walk to the western jetty didn't turn up any rarities but Rusty did spot a pair of Ring-billed Gulls with blue leg bands. I don't recall the numbers but it was not the same banded bird that I found on December 23rd. I'll post the results once Rusty receives them.

There were thousands of gulls in the channel off of the jetty, as well as, lots more gannets. There had been a Red-necked Grebe hanging around this area, but we weren't able to find it. One winter visitor that I was able to find for the group was Purple Sandpiper. These arctic breeders will hang around the rock jetties in Coney Island until early Spring, when they head back up to the tundra. If you try to find them be sure to look closely between the boulders and rocks closest to the breaking surf. They may not look very purple, but in the right lighting, and especially in breeding plumage, they show a purplish iridescence.

The sand spit on Coney Island Creek was loaded with gulls and, predictably they were nearly all ringed-bills. I say nearly because among the common birds was a single juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull, likely the same one Heydi and I spotted a week earlier.

The creek and its sunken, wooden barges held an interesting assortment of birds. The most abundant were the Ring-billed Gulls and Canada Geese. Other birds seen were Brant, Gadwall, American Black Duck, Mallard, Greater Scaup, Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Red-throated Loon and Great Blue Heron. One relatively unusual sighting was of a Snow Goose hanging out within a flock of Canada Goose. There was something very interesting about this goose that I'll cover in detail in the next posting. From the end of West 23rd Street we scanned one of the old barges on the opposite shore that was covered with roosting gulls. At this point, I don't think I need to tell you which species:



While we were scanning the gulls a very large adult Cooper's Hawk flew passed us and landed in a tree next to the Mark Twain Junior High School handball courts. It was joined by a second one which perched on top of the court fencing. All of the birds scattered. Then we noticed something rather odd. A squirrel began climbing up the tree in which the hawk was perched. This brazen little mammal came to the branch the held the large raptor and slowly started to walk towards it. Another squirrel appeared to be plastered to the chainlink fence on which the other Cooper's Hawk was perched. Perhaps the squirrel in the tree thought he could entice the hawk to fly, in which case the little gray rodent would scurry away. The hawk didn't budge and the squirrel eventually got bored and slinked away.

In all, it was a pretty good trip with most folks adding a few more species to their growing 2012 year list.

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Date: 01/07/12
Locations: Coney Island, Coney Island Creek
Species: 27
Leader: Rob Jett
Observers: David B., Rusty Harold, Dennis Hrehowsik, Rob Jett, Heydi Lopes, Bobbi Manian, Janet Schumacher, Bob Washburn, Michael Yuan, Ann, Phil

SNOW GOOSE
Brant
Canada Goose
Gadwall
American Black Duck
Mallard
Greater Scaup
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
NORTHERN GANNET
Great Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Cooper's Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
PURPLE SANDPIPER
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
European Starling
House Sparrow ...Read more

Treehugger Tuesday

The Washington Post reports that the United States will be the first nation to limit catch size of all fish:

U.S. tightens fishing policy, setting 2012 catch limits for all managed species
By Juliet Eilperin
Published: January 8

In an effort to sustain commercial and recreational fishing for the next several decades, the United States this year will become the first country to impose catch limits for every species it manages, from Alaskan pollock to Caribbean queen conch.

Although the policy has attracted scant attention outside the community of those who fish in America and the officials who regulate them, it marks an important shift in a pursuit that has helped define the country since its founding.

Unlike most recent environmental policy debates, which have divided neatly along party lines, this one is about a policy that was forged under President George W. Bush and finalized with President Obama’s backing.

Click here to read full story.

Upcoming Nature Trips

Below is a list of upcoming nature trips within NYC's five boroughs for the weekend of January 14, 2012 - January 15, 2012:

New York Botanical Garden (Bronx)
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center

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New York City Audubon Society
Saturday, January 14, 2012, 8:00am – 9:30am
Van Cortlandt Bird Walk
Guide: Andrew Baksh or Urban Park Rangers. With the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, and Urban Park Rangers. Meet at Van Cortlandt Nature Center. The history of birding and Van Cortlandt Park are inseparable. Influential birders such as Roger Tory Peterson and Allan D. Cruickshank got their starts on Van Cortlandt’s ecologically diverse grounds. These walks celebrate the tradition set forth by these great ornithologists. Participants will look for various species of residents and migrants and discuss a wide range of avian topics. For more information, please call 718-548-0912. No registration necessary. No limit. Free.

Sunday, January 15, 2012, 9:30am – 11:30am
Wave Hill: Birding Along the Hudson
Guide: Gabriel Willow With Wave Hill Meet at the Perkins Visitor Center. The Hudson River valley hosts an impressive diversity of bird species, even during the winter months. Come explore the beautiful gardens and woodlands of Wave Hill and observe the hardy birds that spend the winter in this urban oasis. Advanced registration is recommended, either online, at the Perkins Visitor Center, or by calling 718-549-3200 x305. (Walks run rain or shine; in case of severe weather call the number above at x245 for updates.) Ages 10 and up welcome with an adult. $10 NYC Audubon, Hudson River Audubon, and Wave Hill members/$18 non-members

Sunday, January 15, 2012, 2pm – 4pm
Winter Seals and Waterbirds Eco-Cruise
Meet at South Street Seaport’s Pier 17 and come aboard NY Water Taxi’s eco-friendly vessel for a winter adventure in New York Harbor! Look for harbor seals on the rocky shores of Governor’s Island and the more remote Hoffman and Swinburne Islands. Learn about the surprisingly diverse winter birds of New York City, including ducks, geese, loons, and sandpipers, many of which migrate south from the Arctic. See the Statue of Liberty and pass under the Verrazano Bridge. Dress warmly and bring your binoculars. Limited to 60. To register, contact New York Water Taxi at 212-742-1969 or visit their website. $35 for adults; $25 for children 3-12 (no member discount)

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Protectors of Pine Oak Woods (Staten Island)
Saturday, January 14, 2012, 12 noon to 2:00 p.m.
Page Avenue Beach and Woods
After an examination of the beach geology and the flotsam and jetsam accumulated at the high tide line we will move inland to explore the woodlands. Besides the wildlife we will be looking for old foundations and evidence of human occupation in the past few centuries. Dress sturdily including water-proof footwear and warm clothes.
For more information call Clay Wollney at 718-869-6327.

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Queens County Bird Club
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Minitrip Breezy Point, Queens
Leader Eric Miller 917-279-7530
Meet 7:45am walk starts 8am
See map here
Birding Site Maps page

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Urban Park Rangers
Saturday, January 14, 2012

Bird Walks
8:00 a.m.
Focus on wildlife happenings in the park with NYC Audubon experts and the Urban Park...
Location: Van Cortlandt Nature Center (in Van Cortlandt Park), Bronx
Free

Wilderness Survival
11:00 a.m.
What would you do if you found yourself lost in the woods? Do you know how to build your...
Location: Blue Heron Nature Center (in Blue Heron Park), Staten Island
Free

Birding: Winter Birds
11:00 a.m.
New York City is home to an amazing abundance of wildlife. From falcons and salamanders, to...
Location: Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
Free

Orienteering
1:00 p.m.
Hiking is the ultimate way to enjoy the outdoors and reduce stress. Regardless of the...
Location: Prospect Park Picnic House (in Prospect Park), Brooklyn
Free

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Winter Birding Along The Hudson at Wave Hill
9:30 a.m.
The Hudson River valley hosts an impressive diversity of bird species, even during the...
Location: Perkins Visitors Center (in Wave Hill), Bronx

Animal Tracks Exploration
11:00 a.m.
New York City is home to an amazing abundance of wildlife. From falcons and salamanders, to...
Location: Bloomingdale Park Playground (in Bloomingdale Park), Staten Island
Free

Nature Exploration (Light)
11:00 a.m.
Hiking is the ultimate way to enjoy the outdoors and reduce stress. Regardless of the...
Location: Forest Park Visitor Center (in Forest Park), Queens
Free

Wilderness Survival
1:00 p.m.
What would you do if you found yourself lost in the woods? Do you know how to build your...
Location: Pelham Bay Ranger Station (in Pelham Bay Park), Bronx
Free

Garden and Conservatory Walk at Wave Hill
2:00 p.m.; 3:00 p.m.
Join us for an hour-long tour of seasonal garden highlights.
Location: Perkins Visitors Center (in Wave Hill), Bronx ...Read more

Friday's Foto

Announcing her presence with a screeching "klee, klee, klee, klee", this American Kestrel stopped to perch atop a lamppost overlooking a vacant lot along Coney Island's boardwalk. She didn't show any concern for all the people walking below on a warm, sunny first day of the new year and instead focused on anything moving in the weedy field.

Rare New York Warbler

On New Year's Day Doug Gochfeld and Andrew Baksh found the state's first Grace's Warbler on Long Island while participating in the Southern Nassau Christmas Bird Count. Andrew has a wonderful write-up of the experience on his blog here. What a way to start the New Year!

Update: Read Doug's recap of the event here.

December Birds

Between brief daylight hours and a rushed holiday pace that begins around Thanksgiving, December is probably the shortest month for birding. I began the month already eight species ahead of my 2010 Brooklyn total count, but wanted to see if I could end 2011 with 250 for the borough of Kings.

The first weekend of the month seemed like a promising start when I found an American Avocet resting on the shore of Coney Island Creek. That bird remained on the creek for an entire week. The next day Heydi called me from Floyd Bennett Field. She was looking at a Common Eider in the water off of Archery Road. It took me about an hour to get there by MTA, but the bird was still present, bringing me three species closer to 250*.

During the following week Shane spotted an incredible 7 Red-necked Grebe in the water off of Floyd Bennett Field. Heydi and I prayed that at least some of them would hang around until the weekend. That Saturday Heydi, Shane and I spotted two in the bay in front of Ruffle Bar, probably 1/2 mile away, but clearly identifiable and definitely in Brooklyn.

The day of the Brooklyn Christmas Bird Count brought me Kings County bird number 249 in the form of a Northern Shrike. This sweet-looking songbird with a hooked bill sometimes goes by the name "Butcher bird". They have the charming habit of caching their prey on thorns, barbed wire or other pointy skewer-like objects. Their scientific name, Lanius excubitor, means butcher watchman. Apparently the Northern Shrike keeps an eye out for hawks and warns little birds if one is around. I guess they want to keep all the juicy little birdies to themselves.

There are three species of scoter that can be seen in Brooklyn waters - surf, white-winged and black. I had two of the three on my list and returned to Coney Island a dozen times since last winter trying to find a white-winged. I was running out of time. Finally, on December 27th, with south winds blowing seabirds and seaducks into the bay at Coney Island, I spotted a single White-winged Scoter flying off of the end of Steeplechase Pier. Bird number 250!

In some ways birding is like an addictive drug. Having reached my goal of 250 species in Brooklyn in one year was satisfying for about a day. I still had four more days left in the year. Maybe I could find a few more birds. I went back to Coney Island Creek the next day. Winds were gusting out of the West-North-West at 25 mile per hour. I walked down West 23rd Street, which dead-ends at the creek. From there I scanned a flock of gulls roosting on the exposed wooden skeleton of a partially submerged barge. They were all ring-bills. Then I turned my scope west, towards a flock of Canada Geese near the shore, next to Mark Twain Junior High School's handball courts. At the edge of the flock was a white-winged gull. I folded the legs on my tripod and ran the nearly 1/4 mile distance to a spot in front of the flock. All my hours of scanning gulls at Coney Island had finally paid off as I stared at a juvenile Iceland Gull bobbing on the wind blown chop of Coney Island Creek.





I ended the year 2011 with 262 species in New York State and 251 in Brooklyn. Not too bad considering that the vast majority of my birding travel was done either by bicycle or public transportation. I can't wait to see what 2012 brings...

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NYS total: 262
Kings total: 251

258) American Avocet (Coney Island Creek, 12/03/11)
259) Common Eider (Floyd Bennett Field, 12/04/11)
260) Red-necked Grebe (Floyd Bennett Field--Boat Launch, 12/10/11)
261) Northern Shrike (Floyd Bennett Field, 12/17/11)
262) Iceland Gull (Coney Island Creek, 12/28/11)

*Note: The way my NYS eBird list is displayed may be confusing in one respect. The above list total (262) includes White-winged Scoter, which I first observed on October 30th at Ft. Tilden, in Queens. In December I also spotted one off of the fishing pier in Coney Island, number 250 for my Brooklyn total. ...Read more

Another Banded Bird

Over the past 2 winters I've started looking more closely at our local gulls. One reason is that they are extremely abundant along the coast making them difficult to ignore. The other reason is that there is always the off chance that I'll spot a rare or unusual species in an otherwise typical field of black, white and gray seabirds. On any weekend it is not unusual to see several thousand, mostly Ring-billed Gulls sitting on the sand at Coney Island from the Steeplechase Pier to West 37th Street.

A couple of weeks ago I was walking in the sand towards West 37th Street, stopping every few blocks to scan the flocks of gulls with my bins. The vast majority of the birds were Ring-billed Gulls, but there were also smaller numbers of Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls mixed in with them. At around West 29th Street a gull with something blue on its leg caught my eye so I set my tripod in the sand and focused my scope on the bird. It looked like a ring-billed, but I wasn't completely certain because it was sleeping with its head tucked under its wing. Eventually it popped its head up. The bird was unmistakeably a Ring-billed Gull and it had two bands on its legs. The blue band was labeled in white letters "PF2". It also had a silver metal Federal band on the left leg, which I could not read. I made a mental note of the closest street and continued down the beach.

That night I went online to the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center Bird Banding Laboratory website. They have a great page where one can report banded bird observations. I entered the data and less than a week later received this Certificate of Appreciation:



The information on the form also included where the bird had been banded. I plugged the provided longitude and latitude into Google Earth and discovered that this Ring-billed Gull was netted and banded about 18 miles north of Montreal on the Saint Lawrence River. It's not nearly as impressive a distance as the banded Red Knot I spotted on Dead Horse Bay, but a 381 mile flight, just to party with the locals in Coney Island is still pretty cool. ...Read more

End of Year Wrap-up

With all the end of year holiday madness, I didn't have much time for regular updates. A couple of the things that I need to catch up on are Christmas Bird Count summaries (I participated in two), my monthly bird species total, plus, my final 2011 bird list. This first posting will be a rundown of the bird counts in which I participated:

Brooklyn CBC

2011 would be my 10th Christmas Bird Count (out of 11 years) spent tracking the birds at Floyd Bennett Field, Dead Horse Bay and Four Sparrow Marsh. The weather leading up to the Brooklyn CBC was unseasonably mild. The expected overwintering species, by most accounts, were extremely low. Perhaps, many birds still had plenty of food in the north country and just hadn't flown south yet. One example would be that at Floyd we only managed to see a single Dark-eyed Junco, a sparrow which is normally very abundant around NYC in the winter. In addition, this was the first time since I began doing the count at Floyd Bennett Field in 2000 that we didn't observe a single Eastern Meadowlark. For many years Floyd Bennett Field was the only place in Brooklyn where this grassland species could be found overwintering. Despite a low abundance, it was the second highest species count in Brooklyn CBC history.

At Dead Horse Bay the annual large raft of scaup had yet to arrive and there was only a handful of these black-and-white waterfowl resting in the choppy water. Surprisingly, though, there was a fairly large number of Horned Grebe hanging out close to shore in the cove next to the marina here. One bright spot in the rather quiet habitats around Floyd Bennett Field was a rare visitor from the north - a Northern Shrike.
Tentatively identified back in early December, the original reporter had fleeting glimpses of what he thought might have been a shrike chasing a mockingbird, but he wasn't able to relocate it. This mostly grey and white bird could, at a distance, be mistaken for a mockingbird (or vice-versa), so I don't think many folks gave the original report serious consideration. It wasn't until the day before the Christmas Count when Corey Finger, of the 10,000 Birds blog, spotted the shrike at the edge of Field "C" and sent the word out. Thankfully, the bird stuck around and I spotted it on the day of the count as our group walked the grasslands trying to flush birds. I need to point out that walking on the protected grasslands at Floyd Bennett Field is prohibited and that only during the Christmas Bird Count does New York City Audubon have permission to enter them. After I reported the Northern Shrike to the birding community, there were some issues with birders ignoring the "Protected Grasslands" signs in pursuit of the bird. Floyd Bennett Field has one of the last remaining grasslands in New York City and people need to respect this important habitat, please.

I thought that the shrike was going to be the highlight of the Brooklyn count, but I was wrong. At the compilation dinner Janet Zinn announced at the end of the night that her team had found a bird that had never been reported in the history of the Brooklyn Christmas Bird Count - a Red Phalarope. This very un-shorebird like shorebird spends the majority of its time on the open ocean when not breeding. Janet and her team spotted it close to shore on the Gowanus Bay behind Fairway in Red Hook. Unfortunately it was a one-day-wonder, never relocated after the count.

Below is Peter Dorosh's summary of the entire borough's count. Note that since the CBC areas are based on "circles" of a specific radius that parts of the Brooklyn coverage actually includes some locations that are technically within the borough of Queens:

The preliminary results, subject to count week and numbers edition review, for Brooklyn 12/17/11 Kings County Christmas Bird Census is as follows:

132 species were recorded, our second highest species total ever, tying the 1997 Kings County CBC with this year's three historical first time species with RED PHALAROPE at North Shore Brooklyn Heights, BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER at Prospect Park and BARROWS GOLDENEYE at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

Those species qualified as "rare" (based on 10 year totals) are as follows:

Eared Grebe
American Bittern
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Wilson's Snipe
Glaucous Gull
Great Horned Owl
Long-Eared Owl
Northern Shrike
Pine Warbler
Saltmarsh Sharp-Tailed Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole.

Count week rarities (all seen on Friday, 12/16):

American Redstart
Marbled Godwit
American Oystercatcher

The overall species list pending further review:

Snow Goose
Brant
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Eared Grebe
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Marbled Godwit
Sanderling
Purple Sandpiper
Dunlin
Wilson's Snipe
American Woodcock
Red Phalarope
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Glaucous Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Razorbill
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Monk Parakeet
Barn Owl
Great Horned Owl
Snowy Owl
Long-eared Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Northern Shrike
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-breasted Chat
Eastern Towhee
American Tree Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Snow Bunting
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Rusty Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Bronx/Westchester CBC

I've been lending a hand on the Bronx/Westchester Christmas Bird Count since 2003. I'm always part of the team that covers the New York Botanical Garden with Steve Nanz, Shane Blodgett and others. This year our team was just Steve and myself. Like the Brooklyn count, bird numbers seemed low, so were able to easily cover the garden's 250 acres by 2pm.

In the past, we'd arrive at the entrance to the garden just after sunrise. This year there were no cars on the road so it was still dark when we pulled into the parking lot off of Kazimiroff Boulevard. After gathering our gear, Steve and I headed straight to a stand of pine trees behind the gift shop. We always check this area first as it seems like a good place for roosting owls or other raptors. The sun was just coming up, but the silhouette of any large bird would be easy to see against the brightening sky. The final tree that I checked in the stand was a towering spruce. There was something interesting tucked up near the top. It was a large dark shape that suggested an owl. I called Steve over and whispered, "I think I've got and owl up here." As he struggled to focus in on the bird I moved to another position and said, "No wait, I think it's just a raccoon." Then a moment later the animal stretched it's prehistoric looking neck out and I corrected myself again - "It's a turkey and there are two of them." It seemed incongruous to be looking 15 feet up into a pine tree at two Wild Turkeys, but I guess it makes sense. It's safe and relatively camouflaged, but these huge birds didn't look very agile as they balanced on the tree's relatively narrow branches. They were difficult to get a clean view of because of the tangle of branches, so maybe they wedge themselves into dense clusters, so they don't fall out. The tree is located only about 50 feet away from where we spotted three turkeys last year.

One of the species that Steve and I are responsible for finding is the resident pair of Great Horned Owls. When we first started doing the count in the Bronx we had a difficult time finding these well camouflaged owls. My experience tracking the Green-Wood Cemetery Great Horned Owls over the last four years have trained my eyes to more easily spot their shape perched in a distant tree. This year I located one of the botanical garden owls from about a hundred yards away, so we didn't need to risk disturbing him or her by walking near their daytime roost. We weren't able to find the second owl, so perhaps it is already sitting on a nest in a tree cavity somewhere. The forest in this area was surprisingly inactive but we did spot our first mixed songbird flock feeding near the trailhead. The flock mostly consisted of Dark-eyed Juncos, but also contained Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, a nuthatch and a couple of woodpeckers. Up to this point we were beginning to think we wouldn't find any songbirds in the woods.

After lunch we decided to loop back through the conifer arboretum, the wild wetland trail and the large stand of pines overlooking the crabapple collection. Earlier we had seen a Cooper's Hawk zipping through the conifers, so the small birds had remained quiet and inconspicuous. A second look found a nice mix of robins, juncos and White-throated Sparrows feeding beneath the shrubs a short distance from the tram stop. Among the common sparrows, Steve spotted one standout - a White-crowned Sparrow. This species is more commonly seen around New York City during the late-Fall, when large numbers of sparrows are migrating south. We had never seen one the 8 or 9 years that we'd been covering the botanical garden and were fairly certain that it would be the only one recorded in the Bronx that day. Steve spent a few minutes taking photos of the sparrow then we headed down the path towards a small body of water know as the Twin Lakes. Our pathetic list of waterfowl for the day consisted of Canada Goose and Mallard. We were hoping for something different.

From the bridge over the lakes we spotted something unusual swimming around, but it wasn't a duck, nor did it have feathers:


This busy Muskrat was swimming back and forth to its den, periodically diving for some type of unidentified vegetation. I was a little concerned about this cute mammal's welfare as there was a Red-tailed Hawk perched in a tree directly above the pond. Fortunately, the hawk took off before he noticed that the muskrat was near the shore and within striking distance.

Despite low species abundance we did manage to identify an average overall number of species.

New York Botanical Garden
Dec 26, 2011
34 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose
Mallard
Wild Turkey
Turkey Vulture
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
crow sp.
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Christopher Lyons wrote up a really thorough summary of the Bronx/Westchester count below:

It seems to be an invariant law of nature. Last year, during the blizzard, we quit several hours early, to get home safely, after slogging through increasingly deep snow--and got 61 species for West Bronx--this year we were out there all day, in weather that was not terribly objectionable (other than a stiff wind), and we got 65 species--that's about one extra species per added hour of searching. It's also a little below our 21 year average of 67 species, according to a chart Mike gave me at the dinner. But to be honest, I'm always happy if we stay above 60 species--we got only 59 in 1993, the first year I participated (I became West Bronx Captain two years later, when Steve Gibaldi moved away). There was a vicious wind chill that day, so for all we complain about precipitation (rain even more than snow), it may well be that wind is our greatest adversary, keeping the birds hunkered down, making it harder to hear them, and dulling our senses, while numbing our fingers and making our eyes tear up. We've actually had some amazing results on rainy/snowy days. And we still hate going out in them. But anyway, personal comfort is hardly the point, is it? The hell it ain't. ;)

It was a remarkably un-birdy day on Monday. It wasn't just us West Bronx people who thought so--that was the general consensus at the count dinner. Some good sightings, plenty of interesting trends to ponder, but overall bird numbers were far down from recent years. Half-hardy species that you'd expect in such a mild December (and are being seen daily in Manhattan) were mainly absent, and there were no irruptions of northern species either, not that you'd expect them. A bit too chilly for warblers, much too warm for finches. And even the birds that show up every winter were extremely hard to find--Chickadees, Titmice, White-throated Sparrows, Juncos--I don't remember ever seeing so few of them on a count, and I don't remember West Bronx ever missing American Tree Sparrow before.

East Bronx (our despised rival) normally has a plethora of wintering owls to gloat over, but this year they got 3 Great Horned Owls (a year-round resident), and I think that was it. No Barn Owls, no Long-Eared Owls, no Snowies, no Saw-whets--in fact, this was the first time in 12 years that Bronx-Westchester didn't get a single Saw-whet Owl. Screech Owls were mainly found in Yonkers and Hudson Valley, where breeding pairs in parks and suburbs can be staked out at dawn or dusk. West Bronx's only owl was one of the breeding pair of Great Horned's in the New York Botanical Garden. Even the birds we know are present all year were often hard to find.

Some trends had nothing to do with the weather--American Crow, still reeling from the after-effects of West Nile encephilitis, hit a 43 year low of 211 for the count circle. Tufted Titmouse was at a 27 year low (which would have been even lower without West Bronx, which had more of them than any other territory). Eastern Meadowlark was missed--again--and has now been downgraded (or upgraded, depending on your POV) to a blue-letter (uncommon) species, since it's been so long that we had even one. Ring-necked Pheasant will probably be a blue-letter species soon as well. American Kestrel would have been missed entirely if Tom Fiore and Kristine Wallstrom hadn't once again found one in Riverdale--West Bronx's only save, but a crucial one--we've still never missed this species for West Bronx. A short distance away in Manhattan, Kestrel is pretty much unmissable, due to all the known breeding pairs.

Tom and Kristine also saw two Ravens overhead--and the East Bronx team spotted two from Pelham Bay Park--no way they could be the same pair, so that's a new high count of 4 Common Ravens, a species that used to be virtually impossible to find in West Bronx on count day--when I started participating, only one had ever been seen, long before most of our participants had been born, and now we're getting them almost every year. It'll be a blue-letter species in no time at this rate, but this year it was one of West Bronx's two red-letter (rare) birds.

The other was Greater White-fronted Goose--the bird of the day, for West Bronx and the whole count circle, and if you don't believe me, read Mike Bochnik's quick CBC report to NYSBird--only the second time this species has been found in Bronx-Westchester on count day, and it might easily have been missed. This particular individual has not been reliable day to day, and I was far from certain we'd locate it, given that Yolanda and I had scouted Van Cortlandt last Friday, and studied every last one of the 600+ Canada Geese on the Parade Ground and the lake, and they were all Canadas. I didn't see it on the lake at dawn on count day, but I dispatched a small group led by James Knox to the south end of Van Cortlandt, and they found it near the golf house--where it was found again by Tom Fiore and Adele Gotlib at the very end of the day. But it was not there in the late afternoon, so it really is all about timing.

Celia Dubin, a first-time participant for Bronx-Westchester, was, I believe, the first to spot the GWF on count day--we had a bunch of really talented first-timers in West Bronx on Monday, and I hope all of them will be back, because they made a crucial difference, as did Carl Howard, who led some of the newbies down into the wet brushy area of the Northwest Woods in Van Cortlandt, where some of our best birds were located, including four Winter Wrens. It's rare that I have such a large group to cover the park (eight this year, myself included), but it's only when some of them are sufficiently well-versed in the intricacies of navigating it that I can take full advantage of those numbers by splitting into separate groups--saved us a lot of time, and got us a lot of extra birds. Without that particular x-factor, maybe we'd have been lucky to match the 55 species West Bronx got in 1989. For some of the team members who had less experience in Van Cortlandt, it was an eye-opener to see just how big this park really is, and how many habitats it encompasses. Van Cortlandt does not yield up her treasures easily, but it's always worth the extra time and effort, even on those cold windy doldrums days.

Best bird in Van Cortlandt was probably the immature Red-shouldered Hawk found at the northeast corner of the park, near the water-tunnel access point. We've had adults of this species in this very area in winters past (sometimes on count day), and it's interesting to see how they keep gravitating to this spot. There was another Red-shouldered at the Bronx Zoo, found by David Krauss' team--Star Saphir, Donald Hill, and first-timer Anders Peltomaa, as well as David--and I'm wondering if that was an immature as well. If so, then I have to suspect that the Northern Goshawk reported for Bronx Park recently might actually be a Red-shouldered seen briefly and not well, since there is a superficial similarity between the juvenile forms of those two species. Nobody in the count circle found a single Goshawk, but there were nine (!!) Red-shouldered's on Monday. We can't complain about diurnal raptors much at all--eight Bald Eagles were found (including one adult in Riverdale), along with six Black Vultures in Yonkers, and 45 (!!!!!) Turkey Vultures for the whole count circle--four of which were seen over West Bronx. Three Merlins for the day, including the two Adele Gotlib's crew found in Woodlawn Cemetery.

For me personally, the only real disappointment was that we missed Rusty Blackbird in Van Cortlandt Park--I don't know if this has ever happened before, but certainly not on my watch. There has been an overwintering population there for many years, and it seems like they just aren't around so far this winter, and neither is the once-enormous mixed roost of icterids we once used to see flying out of the marsh at dawn, and returning at dusk. Seven Rusties were found at the Bronx Zoo, and for all I know that's the same birds I saw last year, but then again, they found 27 in Pelham Bay Park (truly, the perfidy of East Bronx knows no limits). I've always had a fondness for this species, and while I know I'll still see them in Van Cortlandt during migration, it's a bitter pill to swallow, much as I knew it was coming. They are now declining across most of their current range, and who knows if we'll ever see the numbers we used to. And to return to a theme of past reports, that's the kind of thing CBC's are really about--keeping track of population trends, in the hopes that maybe we can do something to mitigate the undeniable human role in lessening biodiversity. It's great that we're regularly seeing Bald Eagles and Peregrines, after they nearly disappeared forever, but it's much easier for most people to ignore declines in the less glamorous and noticeable species, and that's why we're really out there--to provide raw data. I don't know what it means (if anything) that there was only one (!!!!!!!!) Cedar Waxwing located anywhere in the count circle on Monday, but maybe someone else will.

It's an ill wind that blows no good birds in at all--territories that have salt water had some excellent finds, including Razorbills--two even seen by East Bronx. Red-throated and Common Loon both posted record high counts, and there were good numbers of Scoters and Scaups. Canvasback is not coming back, though.

Before I conclude, I must mention a few more special contributions of the various West Bronx parties--Steve and Rob found the CBC's only White-crowned Sparrow in the NYBG--they also had two Wild Turkeys, and West Bronx would have missed Red-breasted Nuthatch entirely if they hadn't found it (they were atypically absent from Woodlawn Cemetery). Tom and Kristine had a Chipping Sparrow in Riverdale--not an easy bird to get, and the only one for Bronx-Westchester this year. The zoo team contributed Wood Duck and Sharp-shinned Hawk to West Bronx's tally--and our only Common Grackles for the day, which is just mind-boggling to me. Woodlawn's only unique contribution was the two Merlins, but that's well worth mentioning twice. And while there was, as usual, very little of note at the Jerome Park Reservoir, Yolanda Garcia made a special trip out there anyway, getting most of our gulls, including one Greater Black-backed--the only one for West Bronx, and that got us to 65 species. Nadir Souirgi, another first-timer in Van Cortlandt, spotted a Turkey Vulture high overhead while we were in the middle of the northeast woods--no mean feat. And Jerry and Eleanor Magee made the most unique contribution of all, by driving me and Celia to and from the count dinner at Lenoir Preserve--been a long time since I had ride both ways.

And this brings us, finally, to our annual friendly competition with East Bronx--the ancient rivalry that exists largely in my head, or maybe not. How did our East Bronx do? Well, they got four red-letter species to our two, and of the twenty-two species of note that Mike singled out in his report (most found in more than one territory), they got nine to our eight, with some overlap. Advantage, East Bronx.

But we got the #1 rarity of the day, for only the second time in the count's 88 year history, and the best save of the day with American Kestrel , thus keeping Bronx-Westchester's streak alive for another year--advantage us.

The tie-breaker would clearly be who got the most species overall. West Bronx got 65, as I've mentioned--East Bronx got--let me check the HRAS website--74. So that would seem to be that.

But see, until just now, I didn't know how many species East Bronx got--because when we started reading off our birds at the count dinner, David Kunstler said that while he was ready to say how many of each species they'd found, he hadn't had time to count up the number of species. Not the first time this has happened, btw--a typical East Bronxian ploy. And thus I must solemnly declare that regardless of who actually has the most species in Mike's report, East Bronx has forfeited, and West Bronx is victorious! A victory based on a quite possibly spurious technicality is a victory nonetheless! West Bronx West Bronx uber aves!

My deepest thanks to all of you, old-timers and first-timers alike. I must sadly relate that one of our real old-timers, Lenny Abramson ( a talented nature photographer, and the first person I ever birded with in Van Cortlandt Park, even though he's never stopped insisting that he's not a birder, just a guy who looks at birds sometimes), had a bad fall a few months back, and is now residing at Jewish Home Lifecare, a nursing home on Kingsbridge Avenue, over by the VA hospital. He's feeling pretty well, but is unlikely to get out on his own again, and is now dealing with a big transition in his life. I've been visiting him pretty regularly, and I'll be conveying the count results to him in person. Lenny's contribution to West Bronx has been invaluable, in terms of logistics--he would cover areas like the reservoir that nobody else had time to get to, serve as a guide to new participants in areas they didn't know, and for quite a long time he was the only person who ever accompanied me to the count dinner. He broke some bones in that fall, but his wry sense of humor remains intact. He still thinks all of us birders are nuts.

Well seeing as that's the case........see you next year? Sunday, December 23rd, 2012. Pray for good weather and good birds at the same time--couldn't hurt.

Christopher Lyons

PS: You can read Mike's report here--

http://www.hras.org/count/88thbw.html ...Read more