On Sunday, December 17, 2023 nearly 100 community scientists gathered in Central Park for the 124th Annual Christmas Bird Count. They counted 9,674 birds of 58 species. The total number of species is typical for what is usually seen in the park but the total number of birds is the highest that has been counted in the last 10 years, surpassing last year by almost 3,000 birds. This is largely due to the high number of House Sparrows and European Starlings counted which, together, totaled 4,430 birds.
Though counted in high numbers last year, only two Tufted Titmice and one Common Grackle were seen this year. Excitingly, the first species spotted in the northeast part of the park was a Yellow Warbler! Other warblers spotted during the count included a Palm Warbler in the northwest part of the park and an Ovenbird in the southeast part of the park. See the preliminary count results below. Other count locations within the New Jersey Lower Hudson count circle included Governors Island, Randall's Island, Riverside Park (north and south), Inwood Hill, Stuyvesant Town & Cove, East River & Corlears Hook Parks, Bryant Park, Hudson Yards, Washington Square Park, Madison Square Park, Union Square Park, East Village, Harlem parks (Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Park, and Jackie Robinson Park), NY Harbor & Lower Manhattan, and Carl Schurz Park. Counts at multiple locations also occurred in Hudson and Bergen counties, NJ. The final results for Central Park and the entire NJLH circle will be available on the NYC Audubon's CBC page <https://nycaudubon.org/our-work/conservation/community-science-bird-surveys/audubon-christmas-bird-count> by February 2024! Canada Goose 327 Wood Duck 2 American Black Duck 5 Mallard 277 American Black Duck x Mallard 2 Northern Shoveler 501 American Green-winged Teal 4 Bufflehead 5 Hooded Merganser 27 Ruddy Duck 85 Double-crested Cormorant 2 Great Blue Heron 2 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Cooper's Hawk 4 Red-tailed Hawk 12 American Kestrel 3 Peregrine Falcon 4 American Coot 7 Ring-billed Gull 79 Herring Gull 318 Great Black-backed Gull 19 Rock Pigeon 1079 Mourning Dove 525 Red-bellied Woodpecker 24 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 19 Downy Woodpecker 32 Northern Flicker 10 Blue Jay 206 American Crow 28 Fish Crow 3 Common Raven 1 Tufted Titmouse 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Brown Creeper 6 Carolina Wren 10 Winter Wren 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 18 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 10 Hermit Thrush 5 American Robin 550 Gray Catbird 7 Northern Mockingbird 13 European Starling 1837 Cedar Waxwing 35 Palm Warbler 1 Yellow Warbler 1 Ovenbird 1 Field Sparrow 1 Fox Sparrow 2 Dark-eyed Junco 45 White-throated Sparrow 750 Song Sparrow 11 Northern Cardinal 90 Rusty Blackbird 1 Common Grackle 1 House Finch 47 American Goldfinch 22 House Sparrow 2593 -- Katherine Chen Pronouns: she/her/hers Community Science & Outreach Manager New York City Audubon 71 West 23rd Street, Suite 1523 New York, NY 10010 646.993.2431 kc...@nycaudubon.org www.nycaudubon.org Twitter <http://twitter.com/nycaudubon> | Instagram <http://instagram.com/nycaudubon> | eNewsletter <https://nycaudubon.org/about-us/publications/egret-enewsletter> | Donate <https://nycaudubon.z2systems.com/np/clients/nycaudubon/donation.jsp?campaign=95&;> <https://nycaudubon.org/invest-in-change?utm_campaign=email-signature&utm_source=email&utm_medium=emailsignature> -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") NYSbirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/nysbirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) birding_DOT_aba_DOT_org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
