Birding the Southern Zone of Pelham Bay Park

Pelham Bay Park is New York City’s largest city park and an excellent birding destination. Located in the northeast corner of the Bronx, it contains a wide variety of habitats and borders Long Island Sound. Much of the birding attention in Pelham Bay Park goes to Hunter Island, Twin Islands, Turtle Cove, and more recently, the pools of freshwater at the Orchard Beach parking lot. However, there are a ton of other great spots, including the Southern Zone.

Pelham Bay Park's Southern Zone:
a great NYC birding destination

The Southern Zone is actually the most accessible part of Pelham Bay Park’s 2,700+ acres. Multiple buses, including the BX12, and the 6 train allow visitors to exit transit and walk over the street via pedestrian bridge to enter the park. Although the bus to Orchard Beach runs only in the summer, the Southern Zone is accessible by all transit year round.

Birding with a five-day old

Despite having had one kid already, the first few days with a new one I felt like I forgot how to do everything. How do I hold a newborn? How do I get through the night when needing to wake up every few hours? How do I keep this little human alive?

After returning from the hospital and then taking the baby by subway to the first check-up, I felt buoyed by reports of good health for the little one. Naturally, then, I took the baby birding.

Birds by the Sea

Black Skimmers, at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean

We went to the beach on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens between Arverne By The Sea and Edgemere this past weekend. I hoped to see a few flyby birds while we splashed in the waves. We were happy to find that a big chunk of beach was blocked off for breeding coastal birds. This area allows hundreds of birds of multiple species to nest and raise their young. Birds flew by, fished, and even came in close enough for easy pictures!

Piping Plovers need beaches!

Marvelous May Migrants at NYBG

Prairie Warbler, NYBG, 5/3/2018

It's spring migration! I get to see birds that I have not seen since 2017 and hear their songs, many of which I have not heard live since spring 2017. I have been looking and listening mainly at New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), especially in its forest along the Bronx River. Spring migration won't last long, however, and in just a few weeks, I probably will not see these birds again until at least August. Enjoy them while they are here!

Birding with baby and toddler- Get them involved!

Perspective of a toddler? She snapped this one!

I was sitting on a small bridge on a trail, watching shorebirds in a marsh. She seemed to be enjoying brushing her hands on the wildflowers along the edge and stamping back and forth along the bridge itself. An adult Bald Eagle flew over and I stood up to snap a few quick pics. The bird started to circle. It was probably one of my better chances to get a good photo of an eagle in flight. But I looked down at my daughter, now tugging on my pant leg. She wanted the camera, because it has buttons and a screen, and it is a fun toy. I put the camera down and picked her up instead. I pointed to the eagle, and we watched it as circled directly overhead twice more, then rode a wind to the south. I did not get the photograph, but we shared a moment that has more meaning than megapixels.

Birds of the Five Boroughs

New York City is for the birds.

Literally, this city is full of birds. And birders.

New York has 62 counties. As the table below shows, NYC boroughs (except the Bronx) rank among the top 12 in both species observed and checklists submitted. This is not surprising given the very large population of New York City. There are lots of birders to submit checklists and lots of eyes to spot birds.

Data pulled from eBird on 3/19/2018. All data
will change as time progresses as people observe
new species, submit new checklists, and even submit
old checklists.

The Bronx lags behind. It is not for lack of green space, but mainly seems to be a function of fewer birders at this time. Historically, there have been some famous Bronx birders!

Many people are surprised to learn that people who love birds would find so much nature appreciation in New York City. Whether it be visiting the displays at the American Museum of Natural History, catching spring migration at Central Park, attending a meeting of the many bird-related organizations, or exploring the variety of habitats all around the city, this city is for the birders!

Walking in Audubon’s old neighborhood

John James Audubon and a Cerulean Warbler
(601 West 149th Street, New York, NY 10031)

In John James Audubon’s time of the 1840’s, when he was a New Yorker, he could go directly up to the Hudson River, where there would form “tidal ponds along the river, full of ducks and snipe.” In 1851 (the same year as Audubon’s death), the Hudson River rail line was built along the river; since then Riverside Drive West and the Henry Hudson Parkway have also been built, further separating the land from the water. One can walk along the river from upper Riverside Park to Fort Tryon on the greenway path.

Laundry Birding

It’s a maintenance day- “adulting” as it’s come to be called. Instead of walking the trails and scanning the treetops, I am washing shirts, pants, and socks.

It’s laundry time. But that won’t stop me from spotting a few birds. Before each quarter goes in the machine, I scan it for birds.

What did I see today?

Roseate Spoonbill (left) and Anhinga (right)

#birdbx has arrived!

Birders in the Bronx are getting a new resource for sharing birds: the Twitter feed @Birdbronx and #birdbx.

Another birder and I tried tweeting in 2016 and early 2017 with the hasthtag #bronxbird, but it didn't catch on (you can search Twitter with that hashtag- Cackling Goose, Eastern Meadowlark, Cattle Egret were some of the birds we shared). In Manhattan, there is a Twitter account that automatically retweets tweets with #birdcp; the Bronx did not have such a thing. Thus, people could follow the Manhattan account and could see the tweets about birds in Manhattan. For people who bird the Bronx, this was not an option unless searched for the hashtag #bronxbird. There were still plenty of other ways to share news of a good bird sighting (word of mouth if you encounter another birder, posting to the state email listserve, texting/calling a friend, or seeing an eBird checklist). But Twitter is so fast and easy and now this option is available for the Bronx!

Here is how it works: https://bigmanhattanyear.com/bronx.

Here is the Twitter page: https://twitter.com/BirdBronx. "Real-time rare bird observations and birding news for the Bronx. Followed users can issue alerts by tweeting with #birdbx."

Looking forward to finding fun birds and sharing them #birdbx!

Birding is chancy!

Birding is chancy.

When I take a second loop around a trail or make a repeat pass at a spot visited earlier, it amazes me the things that I saw the first time that I did not see the second time (sometimes the second pass is better, and I feel lucky to have repeated my steps).

Birding is just like that. To connect with a bird, you have to be going in a direction that puts you in the path of a bird. Slightly different trajectories could cause the connection to be missed. For all the sightings I do make, there are probably many more that do not happen because a difference of a few feet of distance, a timing off by a few seconds or minutes, or a noise that calls my attention to the left but distracts me from the right. That birding is chancy is not a principle of birding that I stick by, but more a key understanding of how birding, and perhaps life, works.

I have been deepening this understanding since I started looking at birds, and even using that phrase, "birding is chancy," for years. Two recent experiences from the last couple weeks in the Bronx demonstrate the understanding perfectly.

Raptors and Dickcissel near the landfill in Pelham Bay Park

Osprey

I birded the southern zone of Pelham Bay Park in Bronx County, New York, today (October 1, 2017). Near the southwestern edge of the landfill, there is a brushy area between the landfill and Eastchester Bay. A Dickcissel popped up briefly and then landed on the fence that blocks off access to the bay. I was not able find this bird again despite being in the general vicinity for the next 4 hours. I got some poor photos that are on the eBird list linked below.

Dickcissel, out of normal range! Sure, on the Osage Plains of
the Midwest this is a common species, but not in NYC!

Shorebirds of the Bronx

Whimbrels in Turtle Cove, Pelham Bay Park, Bronx

In mid-July a couple Bronx birder friends and I were talking about we have never really had that much luck with shorebirds in the Bronx. There were several species that could be generally found at certain times in certain places, but the Bronx definitely seemed to be the least shorebirdy place in NYC.

That luck would change, due to some serious puddles, but also perhaps some increased attention at the right times.

An Oak Tree Older than America

This Red Oak started growing in 1743. The United States of America was not yet a country, with its declaration of independence still decades away. The global human population was around 750 million individuals; we did not yet understand that many diseases were caused by microorganisms, that earth’s crustal plates move around over time, that species evolve over time, or that humans could move energy from one place to another through wires. In 1743, Passenger Pigeons flocked in the skies of Eastern North America and may have landed in this tree’s branches.

The sign declares the tree to be more than 275 years old. This sign may be a few years old too, so the tree actually started growing in the decade before 1743. Regardless of the exact years, it's long life is a blip- nearly nonexistent- in geologic time, but this tree’s life spans a significant set of chapters in our human story. We now have 7.5 billion humans on the planet and have made significant scientific discoveries that allow us to do all sorts of things and lead to even more discoveries. Passenger Pigeons are extinct, and we ponder the fate of many other species both locally and globally.

This tree resides on the land that we now call New York
Botanical Garden, Bronx County, New York, United States.
At the time of the tree's sprouting, it was in land of Westchester
County, part of the Province of New York, a British colony
 (you can see such labels on the 1776 and 1777 maps
available from the NY Public Library). 

And here this tree is, somehow still standing despite the vast majority of other old trees in the entire country being felled. Here it is providing shade and wonder to my family and food for insects and thus for birds.

It all started from an acorn, an acorn that is virtually identical to the Red Oak acorns you find today, and 275 years from now, the acorns of today could be trees that provide future humans, insects, and birds with shade, food, and wonder. What will our landscape, both cultural and ecological, look like in 2291?

Rock Pigeons of the World

Looking out from the Empire State Building, 
New York, NY, USA

The Rock Pigeon may just rule the world. Don't believe me?

On the Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel

Watching the tide herons

Call them the tide-herons.

After hearing from a local resident who mentioned he had seen Yellow-crowned Night-Herons in his own little patch in an out-of-the-way park on the East River, I began thinking Clason Point Park or Soundview Park might be the lone or one of the few Bronx spots to potentially see the species. I know very little of this species beyond identification, so my guesses as to when to see it centered on "anything is possible during migration" or the possibility that they nested locally.

In scanning information about their behavior, I found the following clue on Cornell University Lab of Ornithology Allaboutbirds.org to help me narrow it down:

"Yellow-crowned night-herons forage both during the day and the night - in coastal areas the tide can trump the time of day: most foraging occurs from 3 hours before high tide to 3 hours after."

High tide near the mouth of the Bronx River

Low tide near the mouth of the Bronx River

Limited to pretty much weekends and public transit, and with a fellow bird watcher who has unique requirements, following the tides is bit a of a challenge. Nonetheless, the chance at seeing this species would be worth the multiple buses it would take to get there.

Birding the Bronx River, other spots here and there

The Bronx River flows under E Tremont Ave, south
of the Bronx Zoo, past Drew Gardens.

Birding the Bronx River at New York Botanical Garden

Wood Ducks benefit from the habitat conserved at New York 
Botanical Garden (NYBG). This species breeds in tree cavities
near water, two qualifications which can be found in the forest
at NYBG. 

Although birds can be found throughout the garden (and some
species, such as Red-breasted Nuthatches might be more likely
around certain plant collections, like conifers), most of my
favorite spots are shown on this map. The Thain Family Forest
contains roughly four short trails that are worth hours of
combing for both birds and tranquility. The model wetland
can be accessed just outside the trail at the center of this map
(but not shown). Also not shown are the Twin Ponds, which
would be on the left side of the map, just outside the forest
and below the river. 

Birding the Bronx River at the Bronx Zoo

The Bronz Zoo is a great place to see birds- and not just the species on exhibit!

A mother Wood Duck with her ducklings swims on the
Bronx River, on May 12, 2017, at the Bronx River,
seen from the Mitsubishi River Walk. Species like this
are able to breed and raise their young in the habitat
around the Bronx River.

Habitat along the Bronx River at the Bronx Zoo includes
remaining forest of Tulip Trees, oaks, and other native trees.
Other habitats include mudflats and some wetlands along the
river (and some in animal enclosures). While most species
just migrate through, there are species that breed here too.

Birding the Bronx River along Soundview Park

The mouth of the Bronx River, emptying into the East River, which is a tidal
straight between Long Island Sound and the Upper New York Bay.. 

Industry is still part of the Bronx River and this is in full view
at Soundview Park, but there are birds here.

Birding the Bronx River Corridor

Looking downstream along the Bronx River, 
at New York Botanical Garden in June 2017

A sign at the Bronx Zoo (at the World of Birds) depicts 
an American Redstart and notes the ecological importance of the 
Bronx River for migratory birds. 

I saw an American Redstart chasing insects in a tree about 
50 feet from the sign pictured above, at the Bronx Zoo.