January Birds

The great thing about birding on January 1st is that every bird you see or hear is new. Mallard? Put it on your list. Rock Pigeon? On the list. House Sparrow? Well, you get the idea. With this Winter's irruption of northern birds winding down, I was determined to track down as many of said species as possible on the first of the year. It was important to get them on my 2013 list now as there's no telling if any would be heading into our area come December.

For the second year in a row, Robin and I took the train down to Coney Island on New Year's Day. Unlike New Year's Day 2012's tropical conditions, it was appropriately blustery and the crowds waiting for the traditional Polar Bear Club plunge into the surf was much smaller. It's a fun atmosphere and I highly recommend attending ... although I'm not too sure about the swimming part of the activities. Anyway, a slow walk down to the Western-most jetty gave me my first 20 birds of the New Year. The biggest surprise being a pair of Black Skimmers still hanging around the area.

After Coney Island I decided to head into Prospect Park to try and locate some crossbills, owls and pick-up as many of the overwintering songbirds and waterfowl as possible. Heydi had begun her year birding around Gerritsen Creek in Marine Park and would be meeting me at Prospect Park. After Prospect Park we'd walk over to Green-Wood Cemetery.

Two hours of birding in Prospect Park added 35 more species to my year list, but most important, included White-winged Crossbills. Another good bird seen was American Pipit, which I had a hard time finding in 2012. A couple of small flocks of these nondescript little brown birds were feeding in the grass on the Long Meadow.

Ninety minutes at Green-Wood Cemetery turned up Common Redpoll and a few other, much more common species. By the end of the day I had racked up 63 species, a new January 1st high for me. Later in the month I would add Common Merganser and Yellow-breasted Chat in Prospect Park, Iceland Gull at Coney Island Creek Park, Razorbill at Coney Island Beach and Canvasback at Dead Horse Bay. Certainly the highlight of the month would be finding a Thick-billed Murre at Dead Horse Bay. I wrote about that experience here.

One month down, eleven more to go...

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NYS total: 107
Kings total: 105

1) Brant (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
2) Canada Goose (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
3) Mallard (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
4) Greater Scaup (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
5) Long-tailed Duck (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
6) Bufflehead (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
7) Red-breasted Merganser (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
8) Red-throated Loon (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
9) Common Loon (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
10) Purple Sandpiper (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
11) Bonaparte's Gull (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
12) Ring-billed Gull (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
13) Herring Gull (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
14) Great Black-backed Gull (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
15) Black Skimmer (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
16) Rock Pigeon (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
17) American Crow (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
18) Northern Mockingbird (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
19) European Starling (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
20) House Sparrow (Coney Island, 01/01/13)
21) Mute Swan (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
22) American Black Duck (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
23) Northern Shoveler (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
24) Hooded Merganser (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
25) Ruddy Duck (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
26) Pied-billed Grebe (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
27) Double-crested Cormorant (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
28) Great Blue Heron (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
29) Cooper's Hawk (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
30) American Coot (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
31) Mourning Dove (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
32) Northern Saw-whet Owl (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
33) Red-bellied Woodpecker (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
34) Downy Woodpecker (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
35) Hairy Woodpecker (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
36) Merlin (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
37) Blue Jay (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
38) Black-capped Chickadee (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
39) Tufted Titmouse (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
40) White-breasted Nuthatch (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
41) Winter Wren (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
42) Carolina Wren (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
43) Golden-crowned Kinglet (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
44) American Robin (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
45) American Pipit (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
46) Fox Sparrow (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
47) Song Sparrow (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
48) White-throated Sparrow (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
49) Northern Cardinal (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
50) Red-winged Blackbird (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
51) Brown-headed Cowbird (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
52) House Finch (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
53) White-winged Crossbill (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
54) Pine Siskin (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
55) American Goldfinch (Prospect Park, 01/01/13)
56) Sharp-shinned Hawk (Green-Wood Cemetery, 01/01/13)
57) Red-tailed Hawk (Green-Wood Cemetery, 01/01/13)
58) Belted Kingfisher (Green-Wood Cemetery, 01/01/13)
59) Monk Parakeet (Green-Wood Cemetery, 01/01/13)
60) Red-breasted Nuthatch (Green-Wood Cemetery, 01/01/13)
61) American Tree Sparrow (Green-Wood Cemetery, 01/01/13)
62) Dark-eyed Junco (Green-Wood Cemetery, 01/01/13)
63) Common Redpoll (Green-Wood Cemetery, 01/01/13)
64) Swamp Sparrow (Prospect Park, 01/02/13)
65) Lesser Scaup (Prospect Park, 01/04/13)
66) Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Prospect Park, 01/04/13)
67) Common Merganser (Prospect Park, 01/04/13)
68) Horned Grebe (Coney Island Beach, 01/05/13)
69) Northern Gannet (Coney Island Beach, 01/05/13)
70) Great Cormorant (Coney Island Beach, 01/05/13)
71) Snow Goose (Coney Island Creek, 01/05/13)
72) Gadwall (Coney Island Creek, 01/05/13)
73) American Wigeon (Coney Island Creek, 01/05/13)
74) Black-crowned Night-Heron (Coney Island Creek, 01/05/13)
75) Iceland Gull (Coney Island Creek Park, 01/05/13)
76) American Kestrel (Coney Island Creek Park, 01/05/13)
77) Peregrine Falcon (Green-Wood Cemetery, 01/05/13)
78) Turkey Vulture (Salt Marsh Nature Center at Marine Park, 01/08/13)
79) Greater Yellowlegs (Salt Marsh Nature Center at Marine Park, 01/08/13)
80) Northern Flicker (Salt Marsh Nature Center at Marine Park, 01/08/13)
81) Common Grackle (Salt Marsh Nature Center at Marine Park, 01/08/13)
82) Brown Creeper (Prospect Park, 01/09/13)
83) Yellow-breasted Chat (Prospect Park, 01/09/13)
84) Common Goldeneye (Coney Island Beach, 01/12/13)
85) Razorbill (Coney Island Beach, 01/12/13)
86) Cedar Waxwing (Prospect Park, 01/12/13)
87) Northern Pintail (Floyd Bennett Field, 01/13/13)
88) Green-winged Teal (Floyd Bennett Field, 01/13/13)
89) Field Sparrow (Floyd Bennett Field--Cricket Field area, 01/13/13)
90) White-crowned Sparrow (Floyd Bennett Field--Cricket Field area, 01/13/13)
91) Canvasback (Dead Horse Bay, 01/13/13)
92) Ruddy Turnstone (Dead Horse Bay, 01/13/13)
93) Thick-billed Murre (Dead Horse Bay, 01/13/13)
94) Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dead Horse Bay, 01/13/13)
95) American Oystercatcher (Plumb Beach, 01/13/13)
96) Dunlin (Plumb Beach, 01/13/13)
97) Horned Lark (Gerritsen Creek--White Island, 01/13/13)
98) Killdeer (Bike path along Floyd Bennet Field, 01/13/13)
99) Eastern Bluebird (Green-Wood Cemetery, 01/19/13)
100) White-winged Scoter (Coney Island, 01/20/13)
101) Lesser Black-backed Gull (Coney Island, 01/20/13)
102) Eastern Towhee (Prospect Park, 01/21/13)
103) Sanderling (Coney Island Beach, 01/27/13)
104) Northern Harrier (Canarsie Pier, 01/27/13)
105) Red-shouldered Hawk (Canarsie Pier, 01/27/13)