February Birds

During this past unseasonably warm February I managed to only add 16 species of birds to my relatively short Brooklyn year list. This brought my Kings county total to 95 and my New York State list to 97. It may sound like a lot of birds for only the second month of the year, but a lack of typical, cold Northeastern months contributed to a very quiet season (so far?). To put it in perspective, here are two previous year's end of February totals:

2010 - 113
2011 - 108

I really shouldn't complain, though, because of those 16 species there were a few outstanding sightings. Finding a pair of Razorbills feeding in the surf off of West 37th Street in Coney Island was probably the most unusual. I actually spotted three in the same spot a couple of weeks later. The only other birds seen in February that would be considered rare for Brooklyn were an Iceland Gull on Gravesend Bay, a Black-headed Gull at the Veterans Memorial Pier, near Owl's Head Park, and a Lapland Longspur at Floyd Bennett Field.

Even if March doesn't suddenly deliver an arctic blast and bring some new birds into the city, there's always next December. Since our calendar year begins in January, we actually get 2 winters to look for cold weather birds. Personally, I'd rather have two summers.

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NYS total: 97
Kings total: 95

80) White-winged Scoter (Coney Island, 02/02/12)
81) Razorbill (Coney Island, 02/02/12)
82) Lesser Scaup (Coney Island Creek, 02/02/12)
83) Merlin (Prospect Park, 02/03/12)
84) Fish Crow (Corner of Ave. U and E. 17th Street, 02/04/12)
85) Eurasian Wigeon (Floyd Bennett Field, 02/04/12)
86) Sharp-shinned Hawk (Floyd Bennett Field, 02/04/12)
87) Ring-necked Pheasant (Floyd Bennett Field, 02/05/12)
88) Surf Scoter (Coney Island--West End, 02/11/12)
89) Iceland Gull (Gravesend Bay Seawall, 02/11/12)
90) Black-headed Gull (Veterans Memorial Pier, 02/11/12)
91) Lapland Longspur (Floyd Bennett Field, 02/18/12)
92) Black-crowned Night-Heron (Marine Basin Marina, 02/20/12)
93) Green-winged Teal (Hendrix Creek, 02/23/12)
94) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Hendrix Creek, 02/23/12)
95) Winter Wren (Prospect Park, 02/27/12)