10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

But for some poorly (or not-at-all) understood reason, its spread across North America has shown a very northwesterly orientation, so while birders as far away from the epicenter of the North American introduction in Florida as British Columbia get to see Eurasian Collared-Doves regularly we New Yorkers and other northeasterners are deprived.

New York 167

New York New York City North America Bahamas 167

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2014

On Saturday I awakened at 3:30 AM, tiptoed out of the house as quietly as I could, and headed north and west to Sullivan County, the first of three counties I planned to visit in a series of surgical birding strikes to see (or hear) the birds I had thus far missed this year as they migrated through New York City.

Breeding 157

Breeding New York Downers Breeders 157

10,000 Birds

APRIL 16, 2012

By the time urban and suburban sprawl started to reach New Jersey’s pine barrens they were largely protected and today over 1.1 millions acres are protected as the Pinelands National Reserve where development is controlled by an agency called the New Jersey Pinelands Commission.

New Jersey 204

New Jersey New York City Leopards New York 204

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2012

The Yellow-throated Warbler is a wood-warbler that breeds almost exclusively in the southeastern United States. In New York City we get them as migratory overshoots though they do stick around and attempt to find a mate on occasion (and there has been documented breeding of the species in the state).

Florida 188

Florida New York City Dominica United States 188

10,000 Birds

APRIL 17, 2012

In the New York City area the number and variety of sparrows a birder can see in mid-April is astounding. I was lucky in that most of the wintering species hadn’t left yet but a bunch of species that spend the cold months further south had already arrived. I won’t even get into the Ammodramus sparrows.

Sparrows 145

Sparrows New York City Fox New York 145

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2012

Every place has a different dawn chorus and the gradual crescendo as the sky lightens and more species join their voices to the earliest singers is an experience that every single person should experience at least once. All of the birds are breed in Queens and I look forward to seeing them until they leave again in the fall.

New York City 197

New York City Birds New York Breeding 197

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2013

When I woke up, discombobulated and confused, I saw that I had a voicemail on my phone from Isaac Grant, a Staten Island birder doing a New York City big year. Just like that I had reached 299 species in Queens! Then, having not managed to sleep much at all while I was on the plane, I fell asleep for several hours.

New York City 140

New York City New York Birds California 140

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2013

Corey had an absurd array of avians to choose from as his Best Bird of the Weekend considering that between Friday and Sunday he saw 148 species in his journeys around Queens, the Bronx, and Sullivan, Ulster, and Orange Counties.

New York City 165

New York City 2013 New York Birds 165

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2013

It’s among a handful of species — American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee , the unholy trinity of House Sparrow – Rock Pigeon – European Starling , a few others — that have been everywhere I’ve ever lived. We never would have gotten all those extra species of Red Crossbill that way.

Connecticut 202

Connecticut Baltimore North America New York City 202

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2013

We here in New York City (and in much of the northeastern United States) are dealing with a pretty major cold snap for late May, with temperatures last night falling down to 46 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius). Strong wind and lots of rain has only added to the misery.

Suffering 196

Suffering New York City United States New York 196

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2015

Still, the bill passed in 1970 with only one voice in opposition: Assemblyman Posner of the Bronx, who pointed out that most New York City inhabitants had never seen an Eastern Bluebird, and probably never will. Today, there are over 22 million breeding Eastern Bluebirds, and they are an IUCN species of Least Concern!

New York 160

New York New York City United States 2010 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2022

Yes, sure, Rock Pigeons are not a vulnerable species, unless you count the number of times they have been mocked, scorned, and shooed away. They’re apparently not a sensitive species either, because this derision doesn’t seem to bother them at all! I will watch the pigeons of New York City.

2018 243

2018 New York City Abandon Abandoning 243

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

A surprise was a Common Merganser , a bird we don’t see much in New York City and especially not flying over the coast in Brooklyn. The best birds we came up with on our circuit of each island was Great Cormorants in breeding plumage, very nice birds to see but not the rare gulls for which we were hoping.

New York City 173

New York City New York Jamaica Seals 173

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2015

New York City in July provides limited opportunities for birders to see birds. I saw a Willow Flycatcher , several Northern Mockingbirds , and a bunch of Yellow Warblers.

New York City 165

New York City Blackbirds New York Collecting 165

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2011

Part 2 You learn that swallows are hard in a place like New York City. I had discovered a new breeding species — or a new breeding species had discovered me. The Cliff Swallows are easy, very distinctive from above, with their white foreheads and pale rumps and metallic blue backs.

New York City 178

New York City Turtles Jamaica New York 178

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2012

The old runway in particular is excellent shorebird habitat, and the open wet woodlands growing up from, for lack of a better word, fields, elsewhere on the property shelter nesting Warbling Vireos , Orchard and Baltimore Orioles , Yellow Warblers , Common Yellowthroats , Tree Swallows , Song Sparrows , and other species.

New York City 157

New York City Homelessness New York Baltimore 157

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2015

I’d seen nine warbler species, Baltimore Orioles , a brilliant Scarlet Tanager , and what seemed like dozens of catbirds when an odd warbler caught my eye. The mystery bird looked something like a male Blackpoll Warbler in alternate (breeding) plumage, but it was yellow and black instead of black and white.

Minnesota 187

Minnesota New York City New York Baltimore 187

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2011

We took a family outing up to that same Storm King Art Center, which is located about an hour north of New York City in Mountainville, Orange County, last weekend and had an absolute blast. We also observed some evidence of other species breeding.

New York City 160

New York City Soreing New York Breeding 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 13, 2012

The New Jersey Bird Records Committee (NJBRC) documents 465 species of natural origin. This places New Jersey in the top third of our 52 states, which isn’t bad at all when you realize that New Jersey is one of the smallest states geographically. There are, sadly, entries for extinct species.

New Jersey 215

New Jersey 2009 Bald Eagle New York City 215

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2011

I missed some very common species. Some were glaring misses since I started the year with a goal of 600 species (while working). Bicknell’s Thrush is a bird that is important to me because I grew up in New York’s Catskill Mountains, one of the places that it breeds. Washington in New Hampshire in July.

New York City 157

New York City New Hampshire New York Research Center 157

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2013

I decided to spend my day Friday birding the heck out of my home borough to see how many species I could track down for the day. Nonetheless, I ended up with 124 species of birds in Queens in the just-over-twelve-hours I spent birding. Still, any day in New York City with 124 species is a day well worth experiencing!

Jamaica 156

Jamaica Oakland New York City Bats 156

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2018

New York City apartments don’t allow feeders to be hung from fire escapes (though I know certain birders that skirt that rule), and it wasn’t until I had already been birding for four-and-a-half years that I obtained a small yard in central New Jersey in which I could place a feeder or two or three.

New York City 189

New York City Birds Squirrels Woodpeckers 189

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2017

Now that I can travel, I have perversely discovered the charms of really working over one spot of habitat across the seasons and the years; as such I’m on a mission to find 100 species of bird in Socrates Sculpture Park, a bit of Queens between the East River and Vernon Boulevard where artists create open-air displays. Why an asterisk?

New York City 111

New York City New York Illinois Wisconsin 111

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2021

192) from the timing of seasons to the ferocity of weather to the shape of breeding, wintering, and stopover habitat to even the size of birds themselves. It is early April as I write this, and migration is beginning to trickle through to New York City. It is often hard to be positive.

Cyprus 264

Cyprus Slaughter Slaughtered Research 264

Animal Person

MARCH 27, 2009

In "Council Bozos Want to Ban Circus Animals in City" Ellis Henican ridicules the New York City Council for introducing a bill to ban the "display of wild or exotic animals for public entertainment or amusement." The elitist “animal-rights” zealots hate to admit this.

Circus Animals 100

Circus Animals Elephants New York City Animal 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 14, 2018

Third, Kirtland’s Warbler has only recently made the New York State checklist with two sightings in 2014. ( Fifth, Kirtland’s Warbler is an amazing conservation success story, having come back from the brink of extinction to the point where it is now proposed for delisting as an Endangered Species.

New York 123

New York New York City Michigan Endangered Species 123

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2016

New York City makes it clear that this isn’t quite correct. According to the data the authors gathered from banded and recovered Blue Jays , the species shows both a northward post-breeding dispersal (which we’re probably seeing right now, in September) and a southward migration.

Alabama 113

Alabama West Virginia New York City New York 113

10,000 Birds

JUNE 13, 2016

So we set to scanning, adding species and birders at a roughly two-to-one ratio. After the celebration we took a short drive to where the Prothonotary Warbler was reported and picked that species up for the year as well, to say nothing of a singing Cerulean Warbler and a Black-billed Cuckoo.

New York 100

New York Bald Eagle New York City Kazakhstan 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2014

There is another area of the Queens County CBC where a team will also likely see Monk Parakeets , Myipsitta monachus , but I am seriously determined to count that bird for my area, Coastal Flushing, a section of northeast Queens, New York, that includes Whitestone, home of one of the loudest invasive bird species in the U.S.

Chicago 228

Chicago New York City Illinois New York 228

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

we learn) that are home to coveted boreal species, breeding wood-warblers, and two species of Grouse. There are 461 species on the Maine checklist. This field guide covers 265 species, the ones most likely to be seen–residential and migratory, almost all nesting birds, many wintering birds.

Los Angeles 233

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 233

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

When you are a New York City-based birder that is pretty pleased with the amount of boxes ticked off on your New York State checklist you would normally want a rarity that you have not seen in the state to show up within an hour drive of your home. And I even got to work on time! … a.

New York 172

New York New York City Kazakhstan New Jersey 172

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2017

The guide covers 520 species of birds regularly found in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada, including, interestingly, a number of exotic species. There is also a traditional index to bird species, by common and scientific name. Species Accounts are arranged taxonomically, grouped by family.

North America 188

North America America Sparrows Birds 188

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2012

Queens, New York, May 2009 May is the month of migration in North America. My spring has been pretty amazing so far with 146 species spotted since April 1 and Cerulean , Worm-eating , and Yellow-throated Warblers and a host of other species spotted before May even arrived, but the first couple of days in May have been even better.

New York City 161

New York City New York Litter 2009 161

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2014

It also makes sense, what with the black-on-yellow stripes and its pugnacious personality when it comes to defending both feeding areas and its breeding turf. Fortunately for birders, the Cape May Warbler is considered a Species of Least Concern by Birdlife International because of its large range and large and stable population.

New York City 172

New York City Tigers New York Canada 172

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2021

July in New York City is generally an unpleasant experience. This is why New Yorkers in summer have fled the city for the mountains upstate, the beaches on Long Island, or, really, anywhere, for as long as New York has been a metropolis. Sandhill Crane , species number 330 in Queens!

Jamaica 264

Jamaica Birds New York City Ducks 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

There are 35 raptor species that have a presence in the United States and Canada, 56 (more or less) if you count by subspecies, and they are all covered in admirable, exhausting, unbelievable detail in B irds of Prey of the East: A Field Guide and Birds of Prey of the West: A Field Guide by Brian K. Species Accounts.

North America 203

North America Mississippi Bald Eagle Falcons 203

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2014

Now that I live in New York City I rarely manage to make it that far north and when I do it tends to be winter, which is kind of odd. Montreal, while far to the north of New York City, is in Canada, which is certainly not the Adirondacks. Shows what I know about when birds breed. Wait, what?

New York City 168

New York City New York Canada Woodpeckers 168