2010 BGBY List
This is all walking from my home, no bike or public transit; and certainly not a car.
Prospect Heights, January 1, 2010
First three birds just walking to Tom’s for breakfast on New Year’s Day:
- House Sparrow
- Rock Pigeon
- European Starling
Yes, I’m back in the city.
Prospect Park, January 2, 2010
- Canada Goose
- Mute Swan
- American Black Duck
- Mallard
- American Coot
- Ring-billed Gull
- Mourning Dove
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Blue Jay
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Tufted Titmouse
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Hermit Thrush
- American Robin
- White-throated Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Northern Cardinal
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Common Grackle
- House Finch
- American Goldfinch
Prospect Park, January 3, 2010
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
- Rusty Blackbird
- Fox Sparrow
- Wood Duck
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Northern Mockingbird
Prospect Park, January 9, 2010
- Ruddy Duck
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- American Crow
- Northern Shoveler
- Herring Gull
- Great Black-backed Gull
- Bufflehead
Prospect Park, January 17, 2010
- Great Blue Heron
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Hairy Woodpecker
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, January 18, 2010
- Cooper’s Hawk
Prospect Park, February 14, 2010
- Swamp Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
Prospect Park, February 21, 2010
- American Pipit
Had to go to the park a second time today to get the pipit. After I got back from my first trip, I got a tweet from Peter Dorosh telling me the pipit had returned. I’d tried for it 4 or 5 times before without success, and I was sure it had left since no one had reported it for a few weeks, but it returned today. the same bird or a different bird I don’t know.
Prospect Park, March 7, 2010
Missed this yesterday because I didn’t look in the Pools, only on the Lake:
- Ring-necked Duck
Prospect Park, March 27, 2010
- Cedar Waxwing
- Eastern Phoebe
- Northern Flicker
Prospect Park, April 18, 2010
- Lousiana Waterthrush
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Palm Warbler
- Pine Warbler
- Tree Swallow
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, April 24, 2010
- Eastern Towhee
- Brown Thrasher
Prospect Park, May 1, 2010
- American Redstart
- Wood Thrush
- Warbling Vireo
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Scarlet Tanager
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak
- Prairie Warbler
- Ovenbird
- Osprey
- Orange-crowned Warbler
- Northern Waterthrush
- Northern Parula
- Nashville Warbler
- Indigo Bunting
- House Wren
- Gray Catbird
- Great Egret
- Great Crested Flycatcher
- Eastern Kingbird
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Common Loon
- Baltimore Oriole
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Belted Kingfisher
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Black-throated Blue Warbler
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Blue-headed Vireo
- Blue-winged Warbler
- Chestnut-sided Warbler
Plus a European Goldfinch that “doesn’t count”.
Prospect Park, May 2, 2010
- Chimney Swift
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Prospect Park, May 8, 2010 (International Migratory Bird Day)
- Blackpoll Warbler
- Tennessee Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- Veery
- Yellow Warbler
- Bay-breasted Warbler
Prospect Park, May 9, 2010
- Hooded Warbler
- Magnolia Warbler
- Canada Warbler
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Eastern Wood-Peewee
- Swainson’s Thrush
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Prospect Park, May 16, 2010
- Lincoln’s Sparrow
- Gray-cheeked Thrush
- Least Flycatcher
- Great-crested Flycatcher (probably seen earlier)
- Black-billed Cuckoo
- Cape May Warbler
- Olive-sided Flycatcher
- Laughing Gull
- Wilson’s Warbler
Prospect Park, May 22, 2010
My first life bird on this list!
- Kentucky Warbler
- Black-crowned Night-heron
- Green Heron
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, June 23, 2010
- Turkey Vulture
Prospect Park, July 16, 2010
- Black Skimmer
An unusual bird for the park, and I wasn’t even birding as such. It flew over the night the New York Philharmonic was playing a concert in the park:
Prospect Park, August 28, 2010
My second life bird on this list!
- Common Nighthawk
Prospect Park, September 6, 2010
My third life bird on this list!
- Mourning Warbler
Prospect Park, October 24, 2010
- Vesper Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
Prospect Park, October 31, 2010
- Yellow-breasted Chat
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, November 20, 2010
- American Tree Sparrow
Bicycle
I finally got my bike working again only nine months after I left California. With this, I can add a few more:
Marine Park, June 6, 2010
- Monk Parakeet
- Snowy Egret
- Least Tern
As I build up my bike legs again, I should be able to reach Four Sparrow Marsh (Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Seaside Sparrow), Floyd Bennett Field (Savannah Sparrow, Horned Lark, Great Cormorant, American Woodcock, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Brant), Plum Beach, Fort Tilden, and even Jamaica Bay.
Public Transit
Taking the subway I can add a few more:
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, May 30, 2010
- Boat-tailed Grackle
- Willow Flycatcher
- Yellow-crowned Night-heron
- Little Blue Heron
- Wilson’s Phalarope
- Semipalmated Plover
- Semipalmated Sandpiper
- Willet
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Dunlin
- Fish Crow
- Glossy Ibis
- Forster’s Tern
- Common Tern
- American Oystercatcher
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, August 8, 2010
- American White Pelican
- Black Tern
- Least Sandpiper
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Short-billed Dowitcher
- Stilt Sandpiper
I’ve now passed last year’s Brooklyn total, though that was a short year (just four months). I haven’t yet caught up to last year’s Orange County total.
Obvious Misses
What should be on my list but isn’t (mostly birds seen in Prospect Park on days I was there):
- Brant
- Worm-eating Warbler
- American Wigeon
- American Woodcock
- Hooded Merganser
- Northern Sawwhet Owl
- Yellow-throated Vireo
- Bobolink
- White-faced Ibis
- Lesser Scaup
- Greater Scaup
- Common Gull
- Prothonotary Warbler
- Yellow-billed Cuckoo
- Bicknell’s Thrush
- Baird’s Sandpiper
- Hudsonian Godwit
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- American Kestrel
- Peregrine Falcon
