2020 The Year in Birds

Friday, January 1st, 2021

This was a super low year thanks to quarantine. I finished the year with 197 species, less than I’ve seen probably since I started counting. I never left New York City and rarely left Brooklyn. I didn’t even get to Jamaica Bay. Nonetheless I did get one life bird in 2020, a King Eider that was hanging out at the Brooklyn Army Terminal pier in December.

Besides the Eider, I added five birds to my Kings County list including:

  • A Western Tanager that spent a week or so in Greenwood Cemetery.
  • A Short-eared Owl flying around the Fountain Ave. Landfill on the Christmas Bird Count
  • Cliff Swallows that nested at Canarsie Beach Park under the Belt Parkway
  • A Harlequin Duck at Sheepshead Bay early in the year