77th Bronx-Westchester Christmas Bird Count

Saturday December 23, 2000

The count recorded 111 species and 41,958 birds.

Highlights include:

Red-necked Grebe and Northern Gannet off Rye
Northern Goshawk in Bronx Park
Two Merlins, one in Rye, the other at Harbor Island Park in Mamaroneck
A Pair of Peregrines at the Broadway Bridge
Black-headed Gull at Spuyten Duyvil
Eight Monk Parakeet at the Stadium in Pelham Bay Park
Northern Saw-whet Owl also in Pelham
Eastern Phoebe at Greenhaven Beach, Rye
Twenty-one Horned Larks along the Long Island Sound area of the Bronx
Three Marsh Wrens, one behind the Hommocks School in Larchmont and two in Rye
Four American Pipits at the Ardsley Middle School
A Pine Warbler at a Riverdale feeder
A flock of Twenty Chipping Sparrows along with a Lincoln's Sparrow in Van
Cortlandt Park
And two White-crowned Sparrows were also at the Hommocks School, Larchmont.

The Black headed Gull was the 3rd count record (last seen in 1985). The Pine Warbler was also the 3rd record, last seen in 1972 and the Lincoln's Sparrow was the 4th count record, last seen in 1996.

Waterfowl were down this year after many record highs last year. American Black Duck were low and Greater Scaup set a 68 year low! Only 231 Greater Scaup were seen. The large flock of Scaup left Playland Lake, Rye, possibly due to poor management of the lake. Horned Grebe set a 49 year low(5), Great Cormorant a 22 year low and Black-capped chickadee a 23 year low.

Missed were Pied-billed Grebe, Black-crowned Night Heron, Northern Pintail, Redhead, and Red-shouldered Hawk.

New high counts were set for Brant (1104 ), Wild Turkey (20), American Robin (613), Northern Cardinal (445) and Chipping Sparrow (21). Fox Sparrow set a 25 year high (112)

American Crow numbers dropped slightly in most areas after the significant drop in numbers from 1998 to 1999. The exception being the West Bronx which had 1151 this year mainly due to the major roost at the Botanical Gardens. In 1999 the West Bronx only had 320. What is not known is whether the roost was way down in 1999 or was it just missed by the party

Thanks to all who volunteered. About 80 people were on the count and twenty-nine of us enjoyed the compilation dinner, which was held at San Martino Ristorante this year.

Next year's count will be held Sunday, December 23, 2001. Hope to see you there.

Michael Bochnik
(914) 237-9331
BochnikM@cs.com

	Species	Yonkers	Hudson Valley	East Bronx	West Bronx	Scarsdale	Rye	TOTALS
1	Red-throated Loon						3	3
2	Common Loon			2			4	6
3	Horned Grebe			1			4	5	49 year low
4	Red-necked Grebe						1	1	Off Rye
5	Northern Gannet						1	1	3rd year in a row
6	Great Cormorant			8		12	11	31	22 year low
7	Double-crested Cormorant			2	1	5	1	9
8	Great Blue Heron			2	6	3	24	35
9	Mute Swan	9		25	3	68	11	116
10	Snow Goose					3	6	9
11	Brant	110		466		528		1104	New high count (907 in 1998)
12	Canada Goose	691	270	1724	860	2953	1083	7581
13	Wood Duck				20	3		23
14	Green-winged Teal (Am.)	7			9	3		19
15	American Black Duck	4	1	345	46	202	136	734	low
16	Mallard	202	83	324	543	534	270	1956
	mallard hybrid	2		1	2	2	1	8
	Species	Yonkers	Hudson Valley	East Bronx	West Bronx	Scarsdale	Rye	TOTALS
17	Northern Shoveler	3			48	26		77
18	Gadwall			38		8	56	102
19	American Wigeon			43		74	174	291
20	Canvasback	22	8	42	9	2	31	114
21	Ring-necked Duck				1	9		10
22	Greater Scaup			167		48	16	231	68 year low!
23	Lesser Scaup			100			5	105
24	Long-tailed Duck						13	13
25	Common Goldeneye			23	1	26	42	92
26	Bufflehead	2	1	320			249	203	775
27	Hooded Merganser	6		15	28	38	79	166
28	Common Merganser				7	3		10
29	Red-breasted Merganser	30		79		77	87	273
30	Ruddy Duck	16				102	32	150
	Species	Yonkers	Hudson Valley	East Bronx	West Bronx	Scarsdale	Rye	TOTALS
31	Turkey Vulture	1	1			2		4
32	Northern Harrier			2			2	4
33	Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	1	3	3	4	1	13
34	Cooper's Hawk			2	5	3	3	13
35	Northern Goshawk				1			1	Third year in a row
36	Red-tailed Hawk	13	10	19	18	30	17	107
37	American Kestrel						1	1
38	Merlin						2	2
39	Peregrine Falcon				2			2	6th year in a row
40	Ring-necked Pheasant			11	5			16
41	Wild Turkey	cw	3			2	15	20	New record high (8 in 1995)
42	Virginia Rail						1	1
43	American Coot	4				1		5
44	Killdeer	1					4	5
45	Greater Yellowlegs					1		1
46	Ruddy Turnstone						1	1
47	Purple Sandpiper						52	52
	Species	Yonkers	Hudson Valley	East Bronx	West Bronx	Scarsdale	Rye	TOTALS
48	Dunlin			5				5
49	American Woodcock					3	cw	3
50	BLACK-HEADED GULL				1			1	3rd count record
51	Bonaparte's Gull						1	1
52	Ring-billed Gull	652	85	882	715	1624	644	4602
53	Herring Gull	33	10	688	63	350	360	1504
54	Great Black-backed Gull	9	5	40	7	13	58	132
55	Rock Dove	380	65	122	177	328	293	1365
56	Mourning Dove	95	49	49	75	328	160	756
57	MONK PARAKEET			8
58	Eastern Screech-Owl		2			1		3
59	Great Horned Owl			2		2	6	6
60	Northern Saw-whet Owl			1				1
61	Belted Kingfisher			7	2	4	3	16
62	Red-bellied Woodpecker	11	6	33	18	50	29	147
	Species	Yonkers	Hudson Valley	East Bronx	West Bronx	Scarsdale	Rye	TOTALS
63	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker		1		1	3	cw	5
64	Downy Woodpecker	27	18	30	36	73	45	229
65	Hairy Woodpecker	2	2	7	11	16	13	51
66	Northern Flicker	2	1	5	4	3	5	20
67	Pileated Woodpecker		1					1
68	Eastern Phoebe						1	1
69	Horned Lark			21				21
70	Blue Jay	21	48	88	134	77	150	518
71	American Crow	61	86	92	1151	252	116	1758
72	Fish Crow				5	8	1	14
73	Black-capped Chickadee	25	49	11	46	113	109	353	23 year low
74	Tufted Titmouse	17	52	28	70	68	72	307
75	Red-breasted Nuthatch		1		1		3	5
76	White-breasted Nuthatch	8	27	8	17	51	22	133
77	Brown Creeper		2		1	1		4
78	Carolina Wren	4	12	12	14	35	29	106
79	Winter Wren	2	3	1	2	3	5	16
80	Marsh Wren					1	2	3
81	Golden-crowned Kinglet	1	14		8	17	2	42
82	Ruby-crowned Kinglet		7		7	3	1	18
83	Hermit Thrush		6	4	8	8	12	38
	Species	Yonkers	Hudson Valley	East Bronx	West Bronx	Scarsdale	Rye	TOTALS
84	American Robin	8	14	103	83	200	205	613	New high count (569 in 1995)
85	Gray Catbird		3	2	4	8	5	22
86	Northern Mockingbird	21	8	25	30	34	32	150
87	Brown Thrasher	1		2		1		4
88	American Pipitr		4					4
89	Cedar Waxwing			18	6	60	71	155
90	European Starling	304	129	406	1681	890	560	3970
91	Yellow-rumped Warbler			1	2			3
92	PINE WARBLER				1			1	3rd count record
93	Northern Cardinal	31	33	55	71	151	104	445	New high count (437 in 1995)
94	Eastern Towhee			5		5	1	11
95	American Tree Sparrow		1	60	2	3	44	110
96	Chipping Sparrow				20	1		21	New high count (6 in 1991)
97	Field Sparrow				3			3
98	Fox Sparrow	1	1	55	27	13	15	112	25 year high
99	Song Sparrow	11	35	141	108	166	150	611
100	LINCOLN'S SPARROW				1			1	4th countrecord
101	Swamp Sparrow		1	3	42	1	9	56
102	White-throated Sparrow	108	60	420	601	408	383	1980
	Species	Yonkers	Hudson Valley	East Bronx	West Bronx	Scarsdale	Rye	TOTALS
103	White-crowned Sparrow					2		2
104	Dark-eyed (Slate-col.) Junco	88	108	93	234	274	124	921
105	Red-winged Blackbird	30	10	321	290	4	182	837	27 year high
106	Rusty Blackbird		1		14	4	2	21
107	Common Grackle	75		1539	424	107	1	2146	Highest since 1982
108	Brown-headed Cowbird		1		9			10
109	House Finch	80	61	18	95	218	92	564
110	American Goldfinch	35	73	117	55	137	42	459
111	House Sparrow	66	78	250	1065	366	410	2235

	Missed Pied-billed Grebe, lastmissed in 1989
	Missed Black-crowned Night Heron - only missed three other times, 1984, 1995, 1999
	Missed Northern Pintail, last missed in 1974
	MissedRedhead, after record high of 44 last year

	Species	Yonkers	Hudson Valley	East Bronx	West Bronx	Scarsdale	Rye	TOTALS
	TOTALS	3333	1551	9542	9060	11509	6963	41958
	# of Species	48	51	67	69	79	80	111
	# of Saves	0	2	4	6	3	11

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