Hi all, That UK birder wanting a decent checklist for birds of New York City started something, did he or she not... and thanks to Phil and many others, for continuing the thread on this subject. Since the post as titled to this list made reference to the nycbirdreport.com now-static lists, which are available for a number of well-known NYC birding localities, with the most attention having been given to Central & Prospect Parks, & Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, it is unclear what was meant by the sightings not being tagged. In any case the vast majority of sightings in those listings are not NYSARC-review species, and were observed by many as well as vetted by a number of very experienced birders most familiar with the location they were vetting for. in my "opinionated" opinion those lists and that website have not been surpassed by any I've seen for fast and accurate dispersal of basic information, for recently-seen 'local' birds in NYC. And as Phil opined, the eBird.org web-based effort is, thus far, more full of holes than swiss cheese - and that problem isn't shrinking, for those who look at it as any sort of "scientific" data set. As pure entertainment that may help some folks, it's fine. It ain't science. Sorry, but that is just the way it is set up. If you or I can report a bird (or birds) that may or may not have been in a particular place at a particular time (and I don't even refer to "rare" or uncommon species for any given locality) then it is just that, a series of reports... as we can find all around the web. That is not science, however. And to make it completely clear I am referring to the Cornell- originated website with the suffix org, and not to Phil's current version of the ebirdsnyc list, a yahoo-groups list which is unrelated to the much "wider" Cornell / eBird efforts. The moniker ebirdsnyc also predates the ebird,org by quite some many years.
The checklists prepared for Queens, for the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, & for Prospect Park, and Central Park (each in their most recently-revised versions) are all in their own ways quite good at the basic info that a checklist should provide & all have been extensively vetted by multiple experienced birders for fairly high level of accuracy and quality. Kudos to the many who helped to compile them & particularly to those who edited them. There just may be some additional checklists that will come to light for specific locations within NYC. The two boroughs perhaps in need of at least a basic checklist would be Staten Island (Richmond County) and The Bronx, both rich birding and ornithological hot-beds over a period of many, many years - a century & even more. The borough of Richmond has been studied for a very long time and has proven a number of times to have the greatest diversity of sites for both breeding and wintering birds in NYC over a long period of time, even if the present-day status is changed due to massive development. It still retains many habitat remnants unique in NYC and some unique in the state. At a guess, and that is all it is, the borough of Queens may hold bragging rights to the most species of wild birds to be recorded in NYC, due in great part to the many observations made from the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge since its creation as well as the extensive shore areas along with large tracts of intact forest in several larger wooded parks. In any case each borough has its own unique and special places for birds and much more in nature. In New York City, there is a vast potential for nature studies, especially so in all the "other" 4 boroughs but amazingly even in busy Manhattan. A nice resource for Brooklyn sightings is the birding blog maintained by Peter Dorosh of Brooklyn/ Kings County and often reported to by multiple birders of that borough ... just today the blog contains mention of a good sighting for there, Black Vulture, along with many other nice birds of the day. It gets updated very regularly about all year 'round. For Staten Island/Richmond County a good naturalist's resource has been the yahoo- group list with public archives, the SINaturaList available in the yahoo groups at that exact spelling and updated a lot, especially by some of that borough's more active birder-naturalists. There are also bunches of other blogs and such that offer more insights into nature in NYC, some that specialize in one area and others quite general in the topics covered. In a few years, perhaps every individual will simply blog on their own personal take from their "patch"! There might be as much insight in that effort as all of what the ebird.org project is attempting... perhaps depending on what one accepts as science... Among my favorite Central Park encounters of all time was from some years ago, as I passed the well-known bridge to and from The Ramble, at the height of spring bird migration. A man of some years was using binoculars and seemed to be looking nearly at his own feet, just inside the Ramble proper. I stopped to look down as well, but was mystified as to what he was actually watching - so I asked. The answer: "I study bryophytes". And that was all... and so he did, and does. I got a small insight into diversity that day. Human, botanical, urban, & more. Tom Fiore, Manhattan - - - - - - - - - On Oct 29, 2010, at 12:12 PM, Phil Jeffrey wrote: For those of you with an aversion to reading my wordy posts, see: http://philjeffrey.net/NYC_unofficial_list.html For the rest of you: Thanks to the many people that replied, mostly off-list. There is no official checklist. The best approximation is the one appearing in NYC Audubon's NYC birding book, and you can find that online at: http://www.nycaudubon.org/kids/birds/ and was mentioned in the very first reply to my question by Patrick Santinello. The online NYState checklist, of lesser use since there's no distinction between NYC and anywhere else, is at: http://nybirds.org/Publications/ChecklistNYS.htm but obviously it's a superset and I'm pretty sure Spruce Grouse doesn't occur in NYC (for example). The major problem with the Audubon list is the omission of rarities such as Broad-billed and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers or Rufous and Calliope Hummingbirds and the fact that it's difficult to me to know which rarities they've omitted without wading through NYSARC proceedings dating back through the Middle Ages. The Audubon list has this strange compulsion of alphabetizing within family groups, which may drive you a little crazy. Another list that has been cited is the static one at Mike Freeman's site http://www.nycbirdreport.com but sightings are not tagged so it's impossible to assess the error level. One or two mentioned eBirds (not my eBirdsNYC), but Cornell's eBirds database has more holes than swiss cheese and is not that useful for coverage. Lastly there's the Central Park Conservancy bird list, but of course CPK is not a great place to observe shorebirds, so there are large gaps in that too. Ergo, here's a slightly more ordered list, enabled via Ben Cacace, Marie Winn and the NYC Audubon list. http://philjeffrey.net/NYC_unofficial_list.html If your favorite rarity is not on it, email me. I'll see if I can find a way to data mine old NYSARC records. Thanks Phil Jeffrey On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 5:14 PM, Phil Jeffrey <phil.jeff...@gmail.com> wrote: > A UK birder asked me, and I realize I have no idea if there is one, or > even where to start looking for it. > Any pointers welcome. > > Thanks > Phil Jeffrey > -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
