City Island Birds
Located in the Bronx, New York, City Island is a small island, approximately one mile long and a quarter mile wide. City Island is surrounded by Eastchester Bay on one side and Long Island Sound on the other. Its bridge attaches to a roadway adjacent to Pelham Bay Park, New York City's largest park. In this area, and in the waters and wetlands, in and around City Island, many bird species thrive. Here, several and varied migratory birds are found. This website was created to help study, appreciate, and protect all the birds of this area.
Jack Rothman
AP Photo/Kathy Willens
Plant Talk- NYBG (Blog)
Bird Population Studies (USGS)
NYS Ornithological Association
(former City Islander)
Pelham Bay Advocacy
Updated 3/9/10
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Welcome to City Island Birds. I created this website because this area of New York City is little known and underutilized by birdwatchers and other nature lovers. Pelham Bay Park, with its woods and wetlands is a critical stopover and nesting area to many migratory species.
I took this Song Sparrow photo last year. This year, even the Song Sparrows have been few because of the cold.
Thanks to Brendan and Angel, I saw this male Great Horned Owl on Hunter Island Friday Friday, 2/19.
Monday @ Hunter....
A brief walk on this day yielded few passerines but a variety of ducks. Mostly in small numbers were Mallards, American Wigeon, Merganser, Scaup, Brant and Gadwall. Spring is coming and hopefully birds will be arriving soon.
Debbie Becker gives an exciting account of what happens when a Red-tailed Hawk and a Great Horned Owl face off at the NY Botanical Gardens. Scroll down to February 18th on this blog, to enjoy this article. Link here.
Trudy Battaly, Drew Panko and Larry Fischer are researching Northern Saw-whet Owls in Pelham Bay Park and other Westchester locations. They have a terrific website and a video you will love. For several years they have been studying these cute owls and how they winter in our park. Saw-whet Owls have become increasingly difficult to find. When our trees were young, the owls roosted on the lower branches and the owls were relatively easy to locate. Now that the trees have grown tall, the owls are usually way up high, shielded by branches and tangles of vines. Link here and be sure to watch the videos.
This photo is from our last storm. As soon as it ended, Jane and I drove to the beach area. Jane to take beautiful photos, and I went to look for birds. It was bleak, cold and there were few birds except for some gulls.
Winter is difficult for birds. This Song Sparrow finds some water in a slushy area.
This is a Northern Saw-Whet Owl. I took this photo near the Bartow-Pell mansion in 2008. Notice the green marking on the right flank of the bird. This is an identifying mark for researchers. The bird had been previously marked and released.
This photo of two Great Horned Owlets was taken in early April of last year. I’m guessing that one of our pairs of owls is sitting on eggs right now.
This is a Dovekie. This pelagic bird was out on Long Island for a week or so, somehow separated from others. These birds are from Greenland. To see it, was definitely a birding high point for me this winter. The bird was unafraid of humans and approached amazingly close. Richard Aracil, took this photo and this video.
