10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2012

There were plenty of waterfowl around as well, including the trio of geese that spend every winter at Jamaica Bay, Snow Geese , Canada Geese , and Brant. I was entertained by trying to get shots of Snow Geese in flight with my digiscoping rig, not exactly an easy task, and was amazed when I got home and found the shot below.

New York 164

New York Honduras Jamaica Geese 164

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2011

Because Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is (mostly) in Queens, I am a Queens lister, and I had never seen a Ross’s Goose in Queens (though I have, of course, seen several in New York State before ). And the West Pond was covered with Snow Geese , with well over 1,500 birds all around the edges.

Geese 154

Geese Jamaica Wildlife New York 154

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2014

To herald spring migration, interest readers in birds, and make birders feel a little less nerdy, the New York Times recently clustered a series of articles together as “ Bird Week.” Also from the Philly area, where Canada Geese are concerned, where is the love ?). Another article outside the scope of Bird Week is here.).

New York Times 200

New York Times New York Oakland Geese 200

10,000 Birds

JUNE 30, 2012

New York City killed less Canada Geese this year than any year since they started rounding the geese up and slaughtering them. The cullings have happened every year since the 2009 emergency landing of a US Airways plane in the Hudson River after the plane struck geese and was disabled.

New York City 165

New York City Culling Geese Slaughter 165

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2013

As you might recall, upon takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York in January 2009, Sullenberger’s plane collided with a flock of migratory Canada Geese and was forced to ditch in the Hudson River. The only fatalities were to the geese.). ” (Note: You’ll need to register for free to read it.)

Culling 157

Culling New York New York Times Geese 157

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

My visit on Saturday morning was meant to be a quick stop to scan the ducks, geese, and gulls to see if anything interesting was around. There were also several hundred Canada Geese to pick through and whole bunch more gulls. Digging through the geese and gulls was not as awarding as scoping the ducks had been.

Geese 182

Geese Iceland New York City Ducks 182

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2012

Queens, New York, May 2009 May is the month of migration in North America. Just take a look at some of the pictures I digiscoped in the first two days of May to get an idea of how great a month May is in the Borough of Queens, New York City.

New York City 157

New York City New York 2009 Litter 157

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 24, 2012

It has been over two months since the Greater White-fronted Goose was found at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City’s northernmost borough, the Bronx. I got out of my car and walked up to the parade grounds where large numbers of Canada Geese often forage. I sighed, set my scope up, and started scanning.

Geese 155

Geese New York City United States Canada 155

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Back on Friday, 12 February, I was dismayed when I read the weekly New York City Rare Bird Alert email. Now, a Greater White-fronted Goose is not a big deal in many parts of the world and isn’t even that rare in New York State. I saw lots of Canada Geese – about 450 – but no Greater White-fronted Goose.

Puerto Rico 123

Puerto Rico Geese Canada Porpoises 123

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2016

I couldn’t quite turn a runt among Canada Geese at Genessee Valley Park into a Cackling , so my best bird had to be a flyover Sharp-shinned Hawk. Canvasbacks are getting more and more difficult to find in New York and this is the last reliable spot in Queens to see them in winter.

2016 101

2016 New York Geese Canada 101

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2012

At the end of a half-morning’s birding I stopped at the south end of the Cross Bay Bridge, just north of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York. Brant wintering in New York tend to subsist on a diet of eelgrass and sea lettuce.

New York 193

New York North America Geese Jamaica 193

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2017

If your CBC experience is anything like mine here in eastern New York, you’ll be counting an awful lot of crows. And I think it’s safe to say the other two North American crow species aren’t showing up in New York any time soon.

New York 124

New York Portland Washington Geese 124

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2013

Above, Snow Geese approach the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Some of the methods are pretty ingenious, including fitting trained birds with tiny HD cameras, employing radio-controlled drones, and even filming from paragliders. How cool is that? Below, Common Cranes soar over Chateau Chenonceau in France.

Downers 187

Downers France South America North America 187

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 21, 2012

Foie gras is the diseased liver of ducks or geese that have been force-fed through pipes shoved down their throats. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals applauds the efforts of those district attorneys and animal control officers who are enforcing the law against those few chefs who continue to flout it. 13, 2012

Foie Gras 40

Foie Gras New York Times New York Ethical Treatment 40

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2017

For the first week of the year Corey has enjoyed catching up to some of New York’s visiting rare geese and making their acquaintance in 2017. On Saturday morning it was the Barnacle Goose at Hempstead Lake State Park which both in terms of rarity and visual appeal was easily his Best Bird of the Weekend.

2016 100

2016 2017 New York Birds 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2022

This chapter also covers vagrancy in social migrants, and why vagrancy is common in ‘obligate social navigators’ like geese and cranes, a thought which got me thinking of all the times I’ve searched for one Barnacle Goose amidst hundreds of Canada Geese. Next time, I’ll know why.

Birds 261

Birds Compassion Eagles Science 261

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2012

Before Saturday I had never seen a Pacific Loon in New York State. The views were again distant but with more birders to track it and work through the field marks I felt much better about checking Pacific Loon off my New York State checklist. Year bird number 299 in New York State and number 457 overall.

New York 135

New York Birds Abandon Abandoning 135

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2014

Now that I live in New York City I rarely manage to make it that far north and when I do it tends to be winter, which is kind of odd. Montreal, while far to the north of New York City, is in Canada, which is certainly not the Adirondacks. After all, it was only a couple of hours north of my house. Wait, what?

New York City 162

New York City New York Canada Woodpeckers 162

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2019

This has much less to do with the attraction of spending a day with me and much more to do with the 91 species we spotted in 2018 , including some pretty impressive birds for New York in October. Using this trick we added Field Sparrow (new to the list!) and Lincoln’s Sparrow.

Pelicans 133

Pelicans New York Whales Whaling 133

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

The bar was covered with shorebirds, gulls, geese, and cormorants. Suddenly, one of the participants, a relatively new birder named Lisa Scheppke, asked about a plover that she thought was different. This time, the first to find it was Tom Burke, one of New York State’s top birders both in terms of skill and list-size.

New York 168

New York Birds Sparrows Geese 168

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

Though Corey had a host of good birds to choose from (again) he has decided that his Best Bird of the Weekend was the one he found because he took the time to scope through a ginormous flock of Canada Geese : a diminutive Cackling Goose at Blue Chip Farm in southern Ulster County, New York.

Polar Bears 168

Polar Bears 2012 New York Geese 168

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 2, 2008

The fact that geese mate for life, and that the mate of the poor goose that was slaughtered would step forward, was enough to make me swear off meat forever, if I hadn’t already. Bernard Burlew New York, July 31, 2008 To the Editor: While I am grateful for Nicholas D. Kristof’s column broke my heart.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Factory Farm Factory Farming 40

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2018

A regional rarity around New York City, Tundra Swans are only regular at Hook Pond in Suffolk County, way out on the eastern end of Long Island. I watched the swan for awhile, occasionally being distracted by Snow Geese flying over, a Northern Flicker calling from nearby, and other birdy distractions.

Jamaica 106

Jamaica Wildlife New York City Ducks 106

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

Barnacle Geese and their downy-grey cygnets were everywhere, grazing alongside picnickers and sunbathers. Still, I was glad to be able to snap some shots of these very special (at least to me) geese. Sweden was one of the most memorable places on this trip, and ending our stay here with these geese sent us off on a high note.

Sweden 167

Sweden Denmark Geese Birds 167

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2016

Now she is visiting me in New York, and though I have no intercontinental rarities to show her, we did take a walk around the Reservoir at Central Park last week to see what spring has swept our way. A few years back, in Montana, my non-birding friend Kaylen and I quested after the Baikal Teal and encountered legendary success.

Ducks 105

Ducks Montana New York Geese 105

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2012

I had to content myself with my first Black-capped Chickadees for the year in New York, though the American Bittern I inadvertently flushed was nice as well. It seemed that the large amount of rainfall we had during the week made the marshy area that the wren had been found in too wet for its tastes.

Agenda 170

Agenda Owls New York Fast Food 170

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2012

Hurricane Sandy devastated large swathes of New York City but my immediate neighborhood, Forest Hills in Queens, got off lightly, and I headed on over to Flushing Meadows Corona Park on foot, figuring that if the roads were blocked it was more likely that I could find a way around any obstacle under my own power rather than in a car.

New York 126

New York Birds New York City Jamaica 126

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

When I got home later that day I downloaded my photos and reported the band number to the feds , and then put the photos on the New York Birders Facebook page to ask if anyone knew what the weird little widget attached to the goose was. And, upon closer examination, it had a weird little device attached to the color band.

New Jersey 118

New Jersey New York Science Canada 118

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2016

On New Year’s Day 2016, our last day in California before heading back to New York, I was pleased for the chance to get out for a few hours in the morning to jump start the year list. The goose flies out early with a flock of Canada Geese so if you want to see it get there at or shortly after dawn!

Sanctuary 101

Sanctuary Wildlife California Ducks 101

10,000 Birds

MAY 31, 2012

And if you have a small kid and are in the vicinity of some ducks and geese? Also, if lots of ducks and geese gather in a spot where they don’t normally the amount of bird poop could certainly be a problem. In my neighborhood and across New York City, there are quite a few places with signs like the one above.

Birds 246

Birds New York City Fast Food Geese 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2014

This past Saturday, 8 March, was perhaps the nicest day of 2014 so far in New York. Then we took a half-hour drive further east to Further Lane, where Greater White-fronted Geese appear year after year and we were not disappointed. all three of the Greater White-fronted Geese we spotted with a bunch of Canada Geese.

New York 175

New York Geese Canada New York City 175

Critter News

OCTOBER 18, 2011

Excerpted from The New York Times. Apparently, this will happen in 8 months. I had no idea! In eight months, the sale of foie gras will be banned in California.

Foie Gras 100

Foie Gras California Veal Protest 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2012

Behind the Outback Steakhouse at Edgewater Commons, a shopping center across the Hudson River from New York City, is a rusted pile of wreckage that is gradually falling apart and into the river. I am not really sure what it is or why it has been left to blight a small portion of the view from the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway.

New Jersey 159

New Jersey New York City Ducks New York 159

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2013

and a handful more ( Rock Pigeon , House Sparrow , and my first native bird, White-Throated Sparrow ), but for the most part I’ve been sticking to indoor pursuits here in chilly New York City. Two were paired classics — shots of migrating Snow Geese.

Arkansas 101

Arkansas Memphis Sparrows Geese 101

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2018

But Northern Cardinal, Catbird, and White-throated Sparrow do not appear until the 270s, during a visit to Central Park while on business trip to New York City. Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico. For example, not much can beat the experience of seeing a Bald Eagle scare up thousands of Snow Geese at Sacramento NWR.

San Francisco 100

San Francisco Portland United States Puerto Rico 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Stretching between Poughkeepsie on the east side of the river and Highland on the west side, the bridge is not only a great place to walk but it is also a historic site, which is why New York State officially manages the site as Walkway Over The Hudson State Historic Park. How historic is the bridge?

Transported 157

Transported New York City New York Birds 157

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2011

This cruel, cruel fate we endure in western New York torments man and beast alike. Share Your Thoughts « Domestic or Ganky Geese The Bluebird by John Burroughs » To learn more about 10,000 Birds, Mike, Corey, or the many marvelous Beat Writers, please click here. Thanks for visiting! Wicked, right? Hat-tip to Stella.

2011 155

2011 New York Deer Birds 155