78th Bronx

86th Bronx-Westchester Christmas Bird CountDecember 27, 2009

The Bronx-Westchester CBC has seen well over 220 different species.
Summary (updated up to 2007) of birds seen over its 85 year history.
Return to the counts home page

1999 Results	2002 Results	2005 Results	2008 Results
2000 Results	2003 Results	2006 Results
2001 Results	2004 Results	2007 Results

The 86^th Bronx-Westchester Christmas Bird Count found 117 species on Sunday December 27, 2009. Highlights include:

two Black Vultures over the Ardsley Middle School for the counts 2^nd record;
a pair of raucous Common Ravens, first heard and seen in Hastings-on-Hudson then in Yonkers and then a little later in Riverdale, Bronx. It is the forth time ravens were found on the count;
Northern Gannet, Surf & White-winged Scoters off Rye;
four Bald Eagles, tying the high count;
a Northern Goshawk in the Bronx Zoo;
a Laughing Gull at Edgewater Point in Mamaroneck;
a House Wren at the Hommocks School, Larchmont;
an American Pipit in Pelham Bay Park;
a White-crowned Sparrow in Yonkers;
over 6,500 Common Grackles in Van Cortlandt Park;
and Two Pine Warblers and four Baltimore Orioles in the Botanical Gardens.

It is the 7^th time in the last 11 years the count has recorded Baltimore Oriole and the 4 sets a new high count.

High Counts were also recorded for: Canada Goose, 9045; Gadwall, 241 (numbers have been increasing since the late 1980’s); Fish Crow, 97; 1729 American Robins, blowing out the record high (1117) set just last year; and 7109 Common Grackle, thanks to the huge migrating flock in the West Bronx. The old record was 4588 in 1982.

Low counts were noted for: Black-capped Chickadee, 33-year low; Tufted Titmouse 25-year low; Hermit Thrush (5) 23-year low; Northern Mockingbird 33-year low; and House Finch 30-year low.

The rainy spring and early summer, producing a bumper crop of seeds and berries may have spread out the common feeder birds and account for their low numbers.

Next year’s count will be Sunday, December 26, 2010.

	Species	Hudson Valley	Yonkers	West Bronx	East Bronx	Scarsdale	Rye	Total
1	Snow Goose (white form)					1		1
2	Brant				572	930	135	1637
3	Canada Goose	450	643	883	1821	4009	1274	9080	New High Count (7816 in 1992)
4	Mute Swan		1	1	45	28	78	153
5	Wood Duck			10			CW	10
6	Gadwall				68	29	144	241	New High Count (227 in 1999)
7	American Wigeon				1	154	120	275
8	American Black Duck		30	13	502	222	233	1000
9	Mallard	37	118	364	273	788	338	1918
	Mallard hybrid			3			10	13
10	Northern Shoveler				1	117		118
11	Green-winged Teal (Am.)			1		16	15	32
12	Canvasback		1		19			20
13	Redhead					3		3
14	Ring-necked Duck					14		14
15	Greater Scaup				881	2071	3887	6839
16	Lesser Scaup				1	10	41	52
17	Surf Scoter						1	1
18	White-winged Scoter						10	10
	Black Scoter						CW	CW
19	Long-tailed Duck					2	384	386
20	Bufflehead		3	1	404	207	217	832
21	Common Goldeneye				83	63	33	179
22	Hooded Merganser	5	13	29	17	65	122	251
23	Common Merganser		6				2	8
24	Red-breasted Merganser				98	41	138	277
25	Ruddy Duck		22	1		80	15	118
26	Ring-necked Pheasant						1	1
27	Wild Turkey				1	8	18	27
28	Red-throated Loon				2	4	27	33
29	Common Loon				1	2	6	9
30	Horned Grebe				20	1	2	23
31	Northern Gannet						2	2	9th record ( 9th since 1998)
32	Double-crested Cormorant				6	16	8	30
33	Great Cormorant				5	6	27	38
34	Great Blue Heron	1	3	6	8	10	13	41
35	Black-crowned Night-Heron				1		1	2
36	Black Vulture	2						2	2nd count record (2003)
37	Turkey Vulture		10			4	1	15
38	Bald Eagle	1	1	1			1	4	3 ad, 1 imm. Tied high count
39	Northern Harrier				1		CW	1
40	Sharp-shinned Hawk	2	1	1	3	4	6	17
41	Cooper's Hawk	1	2	4	1	4	5	17
42	Northern Goshawk			1				1
	accipiter, sp	1		1				2
43	Red-shouldered Hawk		1	1				2
44	Red-tailed Hawk	11	13	13	18	22	26	103
45	American Kestrel			2	1			3
46	Peregrine Falcon		1	2	3		2	8
47	Clapper Rail						3	3
48	Virginia Rail						5	5
49	Killdeer					4	2	6
50	Ruddy Turnstone						4	4
51	Purple Sandpiper						71	71
52	American Woodcock						2	2
53	Laughing Gull					1		1
54	Bonaparte's Gull					14	37	51
55	Ring-billed Gull	124	450	378	895	627	572	3046
56	Herring Gull	2	10	38	220	359	224	853
57	Great Black-backed Gull	12	7	9	44	16	117	205
58	Rock Pigeon	79	283	464	245	412	145	1628
59	Mourning Dove	37	45	51	85	161	133	512
60	Monk Parakeet				22	14		36
61	Eastern Screech-Owl	3				3	1	7
62	Great Horned Owl		1	2	2		5	10
63	Long-eared Owl				2			2
64	Northern Saw-whet Owl				1			1
65	Belted Kingfisher	1	1	1	3	7	11	24
66	Red-bellied Woodpecker	12	11	34	26	51	70	204
67	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1		3	2	10	4	20
68	Downy Woodpecker	5	10	22	27	42	62	168
69	Hairy Woodpecker	4	4	4	13	18	13	56
70	Northern (Yel.-sh.)Flicker		2	3	3	4	9	21
71	Blue Jay	40	46	134	86	130	170	606
72	American Crow	20	30	124	64	193	113	544
73	Fish Crow				25	65	7	97	New High Count (77 in 1964)
74	Common Raven	2	(2)	(2)				2	4th count record (same pair seen)
75	Horned Lark				8			8
76	Black-capped Chickadee	47	10	35	18	59	119	288	33 year low
77	Tufted Titmouse	38	17	46	21	79	99	300	25 year low
78	Red-breasted Nuthatch		1	10	1		1	13
79	White-breasted Nuthatch	6	6	31	18	44	51	156
80	Brown Creeper		1	2		3		6
81	Carolina Wren	7	8	10	36	61	79	201
82	House Wren					1		1
83	Winter Wren	2		5	1	8	7	23
84	Marsh Wren						2	2
85	Golden-crowned Kinglet			5		5	2	12
86	Ruby-crowned Kinglet			1	1		1	3
87	Hermit Thrush	1		2		2		5	23 year low
88	American Robin	34	8	632	157	449	449	1729	New High Count (1117 in 2008)
89	Gray Catbird		1	1	4	2	9	17
90	Northern Mockingbird	10	9	23	22	16	20	100	33 year low
91	Brown Thrasher				4			4
92	European Starling	144	242	1430	211	515	312	2854
93	American Pipit				1			1
94	Cedar Waxwing	10			37	8	10	65
95	Yellow-rumped Warbler						2	2
96	Pine Warbler			2				2	5th count record
97	Eastern Towhee				5	6	5	16
98	American Tree Sparrow			2	28	1	70	101
99	Field Sparrow			2			3	5
100	Savannah Sparrow			1				1
101	Salt-marsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow						1	1
102	Fox Sparrow		1	5	27	4	2	39
103	Song Sparrow	17	15	42	71	40	175	360
104	Swamp Sparrow			1	3	2	9	15
105	White-throated Sparrow	86	135	501	271	363	418	1774
106	White-crowned Sparrow		1					1
107	Dark-eyed (Slate col.) Junco	70	94	136	62	131	63	556
108	Northern Cardinal	50	21	75	66	92	101	405
109	Red-winged Blackbird		31	336	20	8	32	427
110	Rusty Blackbird			1		2	1	4
111	Common Grackle		2	6535	12	405	155	7109	New High Count (4588 in 1982)
112	Brown-headed Cowbird	2		1		5	1	9
113	Baltimore Oriole			4				4	New High Count ( 7th time in 11 years)
114	Purple Finch						2	2
115	House Finch	16	7	33		20	43	119	30 year low
116	American Goldfinch	12	18	36	57	125	93	341
117	House Sparrow	90	212	525	119	433	252	1631

		Hudson Valley	Yonkers	West Bronx	East Bronx	Scarsdale	Rye	TOTALS
	Number of Saves	1	1	5	6	5	12
	Number of Species	41	52	65	74	79	91	117
	Totals	1495	2609	13076	7903	13951	11712	50746

Missed Species: Northern Pintail, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Pileated Woodpecker.

Michael Bochnik
Compiler
BochnikM@cs.com