American Robin, Central Park on 20 December 2009 by Deborah Allen
9 December 2020
Bird Notes: Update: we've cancelled the Saturday morning walks because of the forecast of rain- but Sunday morning walks looking 100% fine. The Saturday afternoon owl walk (4pm) at Inwood Hill Park (for Eastern Screech-owls and a Great Horned Owl) is still scheduled and is a 100% go...And there is also Sunday Owl walk at 4pm in Central Park meeting at 77th street and Central Park WEST - check SCHEDULE page for details or the written schedule below.
Welcome to the beginning of the Christmas Bird Count season (CBC). As we have done every year since 2002 in our Newsletter, we are re-printing the CBC from 100 years ago for our region every week for the next 3-4 weeks in our Historical Notes. This week we start slow with the (b) 1920 CBCs in several places in nearby Connecticut - in ensuing weeks we will cover NYC, Westchester Co., Long Island and New Jersey. Overall as we review these lists for area to area within Connecticut, we are struck by how few bird species were seen - but how many Starlings and American Crows were counted! We wonder if the low counts of other birds were a result of birders new to birding...many fewer birders overall looking for birds...or just fewer birds here in the northeast...or some combination thereof. Highlight birds throughout CT in late December 1920 include the number of American Tree Sparrows seen throughout the state - and the general absence of many species we take for granted in winter in CT these days: Red-bellied Woodpecker; Ruffed Grouse, American Goldfinch; White-throated Sparrow...please have a look. In (a), and yes we know we have our B's and A's reversed, we send an article by a young John Updike, on assignment for the New Yorker magazine, of the 1956 CBC in Central Park. How about "hundreds of American Wigeons" and "20 Lesser Scaup"? One of the participants on that CBC, Pauline Messing, was a prominent birder in the park at the time - Peter Post (who still birds Central Park) knew her well...
Great Horned Owl in Central Park, 6 December 2020 by Deborah Allen
Common Eider (immature male); Jones Beach, Long Island; 24 Nov 2020 by Deborah Allen
Bird Walks for mid-December 2020
All Walks @ $10/person
1. [CANCELLED: Rain] Saturday, 12 December at 7:30am and again at 9:30am. Boathouse Cafe; 74th street/East Drive $10 (Forecast as of 11 Dec. is for RAIN on Saturday starting 8am)
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1a. Saturday, 12 December at 4:00pm (Inwood Hill Park, Manhattan) for Eastern Screech-owls and Great Horned Owl - $10. Meet at the Indian Road Cafe (600 West 218th street in the 10034 zip code). This walk will take place - weather is fine!
See Schedule page for details on this OWL Walk.
For Directions to Meeting Location: https://tinyurl.com/yxwunvjh
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2. Sunday, 13 December at 7:30am and again at 9:30am - Boathouse Cafe; 74th street/East Drive $10 - Weather looks 100% fine.
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2a. Sunday, 13 December at 4pm (Central Park) for BARRED OWL - Meet at 77th street and Central Park WEST. $10. See Schedule page for details on this OWL Walk. Please note: we updated the meeting location because we found the Barred Owl roosting near west 77th street - so no need to meet uptown - we will meet at 77th st and CPW!
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On Saturdays/Sundays, if you do the 7:30am walk you can do the second (9:30am walk) for free. You get two for one. Weekend walks will continue through August and into December. Monday walks at 8:30am begin on Labor Day, 7 September and will continue through middle November and then resume in March 2021. Friday morning walks start 25 September and end in early December...to resume in March 2012. What are you waiting for?
Call (718-828-8262) or Email us with questions: rdcny@earthlink.net
Barred Owl; Central Park (North Woods), 9 December 2020 by Deborah Allen
The fine print: Our walks on weekends meet at 7:30/9:30am at the Boathouse Restaurant (approx. 74th street and the East Drive). Please note: the Boathouse is not one of the buildings that surround the nearby Model Boat Pond - people make this mistake all the time! Fridays we meet at Conservatory Garden; Mondays at Strawberry Fields - check the "Meeting Points" page of this web site for exact meeting location.
Our home phone is 718-828-8262...and Deborah's cell is: 347-703-5554. Email is (rdcny@earthlink.net). If you are lost and trying to get to the bird walk, call Deborah's cell phone...but remember on weekends there will be 2-3 other people calling who are also lost - please be patient. If in doubt about whether a walk will take place or not the morning of the walk: check the main landing page of this web site as well as the "Schedule" page - if the walk is cancelled, information will be posted there by 6am the day of the walk, and usually by 11pm the night before. If still confused and as a last resort, call us at home - if no one answers it means we left for the bird walk. We end all our Central Park walks (except Fridays) near the Boathouse at about noon; you can get a cup of coffee and a muffin there (around $6 total) - though the Boathouse is closed right now and will re-open in April 2021 according to the owners. Walks last about 3 hrs (less if hot or rainy), and you can leave at anytime - we won't be offended. If you need directions/help to your next destination, just ask someone on the walk - we aim to please.
Long-tailed Duck on the Long Island Sound; December 2012
Here is what we saw last week (brief highlights)
Sunday, 6 December (Boathouse Restaurant at 7:30am and again at 9:30am): Please note: the bathrooms at the Boathouse are NOT open. However, we do pass two other sets of bathrooms on the walk. Saturday, 5 December: well we canceled this walk due to Rain...and rain it did, quite heavily all day. On 6 December (Sunday) birding was slower...you have to remember this is December. Please come with reduced expectations to all bird walks for the next several weeks. That being said, we did have the Great Horned Owl in a lower perch (and closer) to us - this made Bob very happy because folks were happy to spend an hour so close to an owl. The bird had shifted from the tall pin oak tree nearby (that had lost most of its leaves in the last few days due to wind/rain) to a Siberian Elm that still had many green and yellow leaves. About seven years ago a different Great Horned Owl roosted in the same Siberian Elm that retained many of its leaves into December. Today was the last day that the 2020 Great Horned Owl was seen in the Ramble - no one has seen it since this Sunday morning...Other highlights today included a Bald Eagle heading west over the Reservoir, scaring the many gulls to flee to the east. (Another observer, Adam Cunningham, had five Bald Eagles soaring simultaneously over the Reservoir early on Sunday.) Our final highlight was a distant Red-shouldered Hawk (first year?) rising up over Fifth Avenue and heading south with a Red-tailed Hawk in pursuit.
Deborah's List of Birds for Sunday, 6 December: https://tinyurl.com/y4nlxaty
OWL WALK Sunday night (6 December) at Riverside Park (Manhattan): Man it was windy! When I arrived at about 1:30pm the Barred Owl was in its usual tree perch at 115th street and Riverside Drive, just inside the park. A few minutes later a group of American Crows arrived, and the Barred Owl fled to a tree cavity nearby - to wait out the corvid storm. See E.J Bartolazo's wonderful photo below. Here the owl remained for an hour or so, then flying to a nearby tree (mulberry?) that retains most of its yellow-green leaves. The Barred Owl perched over a very busy path for the rest of the afternoon, and was best viewed from the street (approx. 117 1/2 Street and Riverside Drive). Meanwhile below excited people gathered (one woman brought her pet chicken), and the owl mostly slept through it all. It is interesting that all three large owls we could find today were in trees that still retained many of their leaves - even though at least one owl could easily have stayed in a tree cavity all day to hide (and it was cold with the wind!). As for the owl walk, the Barred Owl flew a bit north when it was almost completely dark (5pm). Two people in our group watched it catch something (perhaps a roosting bird?) We then used the tape to bring the owl back to us, and it perched nearby...but also embarked upon a flight circling above our heads using the strong winds (and updrafts from the nearby stone wall of Riverside Drive). We watched it circle round and round several times. I'd estimate that the owl stayed with us ten minutes, and then went off and did its own thing, of its own volition - when it wanted to. Meanwhile a bunch of people were thrilled/enthralled.
Barred Owl, at Riverside Park (Manhattan) on 6 Dec 2020 by E.J. Bartolazo. Note ruffled breast feathers from the strong northwest winds coming across the nearby Hudson River.
HISTORICAL NOTEs
Bird Census [1956 Christmas Bird Count/Manhattan]
John Updike, The Talk of the Town, Bird Census, The New Yorker
EVERY year, the Audubon Society sponsors a nationwide Christmas Week bird count, and this year we, who can only by squinting differentiate a semi-palmated plover from a white-eyed towhee, were invited to share in one Manhattan portion of the fun. The trysting place was the southwest corner of the Central Park Reservoir; the time, eight of a Saturday morning. Bitter chill it was. A ragged, restless mist hovered above the water-such a mist as shrouded Elsinore the morning the late King Hamlet called for revenge. In the fullness of time, we were hailed by an apparition of odd silhouettes - triangular ponchos from which legs, arms, heads, and telescopic devices protruded. These shapes identified themselves, in muffled voices, as Mr. Richard Harrison, a free-lance cartographer; Mr. Robert Mathews, a teacher of biology and mathematics; Mrs. Pauline Messing, a housewife; Mr. William Cooney, a retired businessman; Mr. Erik Petersen, a locomotive engineer; and Mr. Walter Kennedy, a clerk. "We've been here forty minutes!" cried Mr. Harrison, who wore a Peter Freuchenstyle beard. "Have you ever seen so much scum on the Reservoir?" We looked through the wire fence and made out a broad rim of soot, firm enough to support the weight of stray feathers and candy wrappers. Mr. Harrison, who had put his binoculars to his eyes, pirouetted like a Japanese traffic cop as a distant fowl swooped into a tree. "That a crow?" "Looked like a dark pigeon to me," Mr. Mathews said, adding, for our benefit, "A crow would be a rarity in Central Park." "Dark pigeon," Mr. Harrison muttered, and began barking at the other students of avifauna. "I'm not in charge of this census; Dick Ryan is. He's coming over from New Jersey and doing the peripheral parks. We're to phone our results in to him this evening. He wants every bird counted, not estimated; he's found that estimates are invariably lower than the actual count." Directives were issued. Some of the party were to go south, into the bushes, which, alas, Commissioner Moses had recently trimmed. Some were to speed northward, into the Harlem end of the Park. We were to accompany Mr. Mathews, Mrs. Messing, and Mr. Cooney around the Reservoir. "I can't understand the Reservoir," Mr. Mathews said as we started off. "Fifteen years ago, it wasn't worth looking at. You never saw a baldpate. [American Wigeon]. Now you see hundreds." "People feed them," Mrs. Messing said. "Funny thing," Mr. Mathews mused. "Once you start watching 'em, you stop feeding 'em. It's a heartless hobby." "We saw an awful flock of baldies [American Wigeon] coming up," Mrs. Messing said. She was our accountant, and had already tabulated twenty-four ruddies, fifty herring gulls, and ten black-backed gulls.
Our technique was simple and pleasant: walk around the Reservoir and count the birds within it, and any other birds that got in our way. Behind us on the asphalt, a young Filipino, his fists hopping like two caged canaries, shadowboxed; occasionally, underclad middle-aged men heaved past, keeping fit; on the bridle path, pretty flocks of girlish equestriennes cantered by. A few birds sang. "There's a downy," Mr. Mathews said, apropos of a faint squeak.
Mrs. Messing made a note. Then she poked her binoculars through the fence and began mumbling, "One, two, three, four ... ,
Mr. Mathews moodily kicked at some shrubbery. "I saw an immature saw-whet owl in around here once."
"Geoffrey Carleton saw an Iceland gull Thursday," Mr. Cooney said. "Downtown."
"A good place for gulls is the Forty-ninth Street sewage outlet on the East River," Mr. Mathews said. "There's an outlet at a Hundred and Sixth Street that occasionally turns up with an Arctic tern."
"That fellow will never make Madison Square Garden," Mr. Cooney said to us. "We get some pretty good athletes out here some mornings.
"That isn't all we get," Mr. Mathews said. "There've been several mugging incidents. Mostly in the warbler season."
" .. . eighteen, nineteen, twenty," Mrs. Messing said. "Twenty lesser scaup."
"Did you know," Mr. Cooney said, "that the Irish magpie is called Pica pica pica? That strikes me as silly."
"Why?" asked Mr. Mathews. "The Cardinal used to be called Cardinalis cardinalis cardinalis."
"If it's a sparrow, they call it domesticus," Mr. Cooney irrepressibly continued; "A robin, they stick on migratorius.
"The Reservoir's letting us down today," Mrs. Messing said. "Wait a minute." She lifted the binoculars. "Bob, I've got a Laugher."
"Good girl, Pauline!"
"That's the first Laughing Gull we've ever got on a Central Park census," she said, pursing her lips with satisfaction. Later, after the whole party had assembled in the boathouse and pooled their count, Mr. Mathews took us to the Statue of Liberty, a by no means fruitless foray. We netted, besides innumerable herring gulls, a sparrow hawk [American Kestrel] in Battery Park and, from the boat, one Iceland gull and four Bonapartes. On Liberty Island, rain was falling. We left the shelter of the boat to inspect at close range a congregation of small birds. "Probably sparrows," Mr. Mathews said, "but they're acting kind of lively. They're acting like larks." They were, it turned out, sparrows.
The rain intensified. The great green Statue, seen from the back, looked wrinkled and cold. From beneath his sagging hat brim, our intrepid guide gazed across to the toy structures of Wall Street. "I wonder if they'll flush any escaped parakeets today. This summer, there was a big flock - about fifteen - in Central Park. Union Square is usually a good place for escaped cage birds."
Drenched, we returned to our cage, where we heard the census results by phone that evening. Fifty species were counted, and a hundred and two thousand birds, ninety-five thousand of them Starlings. Eight types of gull. Ten night herons. Four hundred and twelve canvasback ducks, exceeding the previous record by four hundred and six. No parakeets. One party did see a deer, though - in Inwood Hill Park, on the northern edge of Manhattan. The police were chasing it: two patrolmen, one red-faced.
Bald Eagle, State Line Lookout (NY-NJ border above the Hudson River) September 2019
Bird-Lore's Twenty-first Christmas Census for 1920
THE highest number of species recorded in this census, in the northern and middle Atlantic States, is 38 at Montauk, Long Island, and Cape May, N.J.; in the south, 58 at Plant City, Fla., and in the Mississippi Valley, 35 at Kansas City; and on the Pacific Coast, Santa Barbara with 96 has no close competitor. The unusually open season, no doubt, accounts for a number of sporadic records of birds far north of their usual winter range, such as the Phoebe, Catbird, and Palm Warbler. The early date at which the census goes to press leaves little opportunity for statistical study of it. We may note, however, that the ‘comeback' anticipated for the Golden-crowned Kinglet exceeds our expectations. In the 1919 census, 26 of the 138 lists for states east of the Mississippi reported 1 to 11 individuals of this species, with a total of 85. This year (1920), 41 of 134 lists record 1 to 37 individuals with a total of 278.
On the other hand, the scarcity of birds in places is less general than was anticipated. The average total species for Massachusetts is 14, versus 16 in 1919; whereas in New York it is 17, and in New Jersey it is 20, in both 1919 and 1920. In Ohio, however, there has been an increase of from an average of 16 in 1919 to 18 in 1920. J. T. Nichols.
CONNECTICUT 1920
South Windsor, Conn. (beside Connecticut River and in the swamps and woodland parallel thereto). 26 December 1920; 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Partly cloudy; 5-mile northeast wind; temp. 8F to 19F. Observers together all day. Herring Gull, 1; Merganser, 10; Mallard Duck, 2; Black Duck, 50+; Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1; Red-shouldered Hawk, 2; Sparrow Hawk [American Kestrel], 2; Screech Owl, 1; Hairy Woodpecker, 6; Downy Woodpecker, 5; Blue Jay, 2; Crow, 2,000+; Starling, 10; Tree Sparrow, 150+; Song Sparrow, 8; Swamp Sparrow, 1; Brown Creeper, 7; White-breasted Nuthatch, 5. Total, 18 species, 2,263+ individuals. Pileated Woodpecker, 2 seen earlier in week; Golden-crowned Kinglets, Juncoes, Barred Owl seen on Dec. 25; great scarcity of Chickadees in this vicinity.
C. W. Vibert and Geo. T. Griswold.
Hartford, Conn. 25 December 1920; 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. Clear; ground bare; strong northwest wind; temp. 30f at start, 28F at return. Barred Owl, 2; Hairy Woodpecker, 1; Downy Woodpecker, 3; Blue Jay, 14; Crow, 14; Starling, 37; American Goldfinch, 22; Tree Sparrow, 37; Slate-colored Junco, 57; White-breasted Nuthatch, 3; Chickadee, 23. Total, 11 species, 213 individuals. Clifford M. Case.
West Hartford, Conn. 25 December 1920; 7.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Clear; ground bare; very strong northwest wind; temp. 24f at start and finish, only two degrees higher at noon. Sixteen mile tramp. Sparrow Hawk [American Kestrel], 1; Barred Owl, 1; Screech Owl, 1; Hairy Woodpecker, 1; Downy Woodpecker, 2; Red-headed Woodpecker, 1; Blue Jay, 5; Crow, 3,000; Starling, 700; Song Sparrow, 2; Brown Creeper, 1; Nuthatch, 13. Total, 12 species, (about) 3,728 individuals. December 26: Pileated Woodpecker, 1; Robin, 1.
Edwin H. Hunger.
Bristol, Conn, (northeastern part). 8 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. Nearly clear; ground barely covered by a snow-flurry in the night; wind fresh; temp. 23f at start, 26f at return. Five to 6 miles on foot, then about 10 miles by auto, with R. W. Ford, stopping at various places to look for birds, a northern Shrike being the only additional bird found. The sky remained nearly clear, but the wind became high, nearly a gale by noon. Hairy Woodpecker, 1; Downy Woodpecker, 1; Crow, 8; Starling, (about) 300; Goldfinch, 6; Tree Sparrow, 12; Song Sparrow, 1; Northern Shrike (immature), 1; White-breasted Nuthatch, 3; Chickadee, 2. Total, 10 species, 335 individuals. The day before a Brown Creeper and a Sparrow Hawk [American Kestrel] had been seen in town, and the writer has seen or heard Blue Jays almost every morning on the way to the office, but, for the first time in our experience, we failed to find them today. Frank Bruen and R. W. Ford.
New London, Conn. (shore road to lighthouse and back by inland road). 28 December 1920; 12.40 to 4.30 P.M. Clear; ground partly covered with snow; wind northwest, light; temp. 40f at start, 36f at return. Seven and one-half miles on foot. Herring Gull, 188; Ring-billed Gull, 7; Great Black-backed Gull, 1; Kittiwake, 1; Scaup Duck, 50 (est.); Crow, 5; Junco, 6; Tree Sparrow, 1; Myrtle Warbler, 5. Total, 9 species, 264 individuals.
Frances Miner Graves.
Meriden, Conn. 25 December 1920; 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 1.30 to 3 p.m. Clear; no snow; 4 in. of ice on lakes; wind, northwest, very strong; temp. 15f. About 4-mile walk, open country and one small section of woodland and brush. Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1; Red-tailed Hawk, 1; Downy Woodpecker, 1; Northern Flicker, 1; Horned Lark, 75; Crow, 10; Starling, 19; Tree Sparrow, 8; Brown Creeper, 1; White-breasted Nuthatch, 2; Chickadee, 3; Golden-crowned Kinglet, 2; Robin, 3 (one a partial albino, with white patches on back, wing coverts and tail). Total, 13 species, 127 individuals. Dec. 24: a Rusty Blackbird.
Lester W. Smith.
Fairfield, Conn. (Birdcraft Sanctuary and Fairfield Beach). 25 December 1920; sunrise to
sunset. Fair; ground bare; temp. 18f to 38f. Herring Gull, 75; Red-breasted Merganser, 3; Black Duck, 9; Lesser Scaup, 32; American Golden-eye, 7; Old Squaw, 20; White-winged Scoter, 40; Surf Scoter, 8; Black-crowned Night Heron, 6; Cooper's Hawk, 1; Sparrow Hawk [American Kestrel], 1; Downy Woodpecker, 3; Horned Lark, 5; Blue Jay, 7; American Crow, 6; Starling, 40; Meadowlark, 2; White-throated Sparrow, 6; Tree Sparrow, 10; Junco, 30; Song Sparrow, 10; Myrtle Warbler, 5; Brown Creeper, 1; White-breasted Nuthatch, 2; Golden-crowned Kinglet, 4. Total, 25 species, 333 individuals. Frank Novak (Warden).
Fairfield, Conn. 24 December 1920. 24; 9.20 a.m. to 1.10 p.m. and 2.15 to 4.45 p.m. Partly cloudy, ground bare; wind west, heavy; temp. 44f at start, 36f at return. Fourteen miles on foot. Horned Grebe, 1; Great Black-backed Gull, 1; Herring Gull, 400; Scaup Duck, 12; Golden-eye, 4; Old Squaw, 2; White- winged Scoter, 4; Surf Scoter, 5; Sparrow Hawk {American Kestrel], 1; Downy Woodpecker, 2; Blue Jay, 11; Crow, 5; Starling, 6; Goldfinch, 2; Tree Sparrow, 23; Slate-colored Junco, 4; Song Sparrow, 3; Myrtle Warbler, 21; White-breasted Nuthatch, 2; Chickadee, 5. Total, 20 species, 520 individuals. A Catbird seen Dec. 19 could not be found today. Most small land-birds are scarce this winter, and Chickadees unusually so. Aretas A. Saunders.
Wilton, Conn. 24 December 1920; 7.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. Cloudy to fair; ground bare; wind
northwest; temp. 35f at start, 40f on return. Five miles on foot. Ruffed Grouse, 1; Kingfisher, 1; Hairy Woodpecker, 1; Crow, 15; Goldfinch, 6; Tree Sparrow, 6; Junco, 37; Myrtle Warbler, 7; Winter Wren, 1; Chickadee, 7; Bluebird, 3. Total, 11 species, 85 individuals. The Kingfisher was seen flying over the open waters of the reservoir at Wilton with 6X glasses. Sydney K. Bunker.
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Deborah Allen and Robert DeCandido PhD
Follow our Bird Sightings on Twitter: @DAllenNYC and/or @BirdingBobNYC
(above) Watching Eastern Screech-owls at a roost site in Central Park, January 2002
Watching Long-eared Owls (5) in the spruce trees on Cedar Hill, after the Christmas Count in December 2002. The CBC people missed these owls. Deborah Allen and I (+ the Bob Bird Walk folks) brought them to the owls after the count, and the 5 Long-eared Owls were added to the final totals for the day.