Debbie Becker has been The New York Botanical Garden’s resident bird expert for over 25 years, and continues to lead her popular Bird Walks on Saturday mornings throughout much of the year.

Northern Saw-whet Owl

Each year, The Audubon Society holds a Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in which bird watchers throughout the country volunteer to count birds in a specified area, setting out at dawn and closing their notebooks at dusk. This year in the Bronx, birders will bring their binoculars to The New York Botanical Garden, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, City Island, Bronx Park East and other local parks and coastal areas. Based on the counts they come up with for each bird species seen, tallies will be pooled to represent each of the five boroughs.

The purpose of the final count determines the climate of the bird population, as species representation can fluctuate due to disease, weather, habitat destruction, and food supply. At the NYBG in particular, there have been some remarkable numbers observed in the last 10 years. For example, the population of American Crows at the Garden was once counted at over 500. Today, we are lucky to see just one or two. This is owed to the arrival of the West Nile Virus, which has decimated crow populations in our area.

Tufted Titmouse

Likewise, declines among the Tufted Titmouse, Chickadees, and the House Finch have struck hard. Populations of these small visitors were explosive in the 1990s, but conjunctivitis–an inflammatory eye disease–has caused them to dwindle since the late 2000s. In this case, however, the cause is more easily tackled; dirty bird feeders quickly pass the disease from bird to bird, so cleaning your feeders with soapy water each week can prevent the epidemic from spreading. Already, numbers of these bird species are slowly rebounding.

Then there are the new species which have been observed, those we hope will stick around long enough to be counted. Red- and White-winged Crossbills, rarities to the NYC area, have been observed around the NYBG and throughout many other locations in the city. Weather and food-related problems further north have driven these pine cone feeders south and into our vicinity.
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The New York Botanical Garden is, first and foremost, a world-renowned collection of flora. But you’d be hard-pressed to spend more than a few minutes walking under the boughs without recognizing the sing-song notes of our most gregarious residents. The birds of the Garden represent some of the most varied fauna in New York City, and not only are we a haven for passersby making the trip to cozier climates, but we’re further home to a menagerie of year-round species in all shapes and sizes.

It so happens that we get the best of both worlds in the fall. Migrating species gather up for the flight south while the locals buckle down for the coming winter, and Debbie Becker, binoculars in hand, is always there to see it; join her for our in-depth NYBG birdwatching course beginning in October and you’re sure to walk away with a new skill.

While the herons and egrets are soon to take flight for the season, and the hummingbirds already have their eyes on the clock, few realize how abundant the wildlife is here in the autumn. Thankfully, Becker has the roll call down pat. She’s been leading Saturday Bird Walks at the NYBG for over 25 years, making her one of the area’s foremost experts on NYC’s winged things. And while newcomers are always welcome to glean what they can from her weekend walks, motivated beginners won’t want to pass up Becker’s primer on birdwatching fundamentals.
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Debbie Becker has been leading weekly Bird Walks at the NYBG for over 25 years. You can often find her on Saturday mornings, guiding new and veteran “birders” alike through the Garden’s 250 acres with binoculars in tow.

While leading my weekly Bird Walk at The New York Botanical Garden I observed a large woodpecker flying by me. I was able to see its wings with their black feathers and white markings. My first and only thought was that I had just seen a Pileated Woodpecker.

After leading birdwatching tours at NYBG for 27 years, the one bird that has always remained elusive is the Pileated Woopecker. Although they are common just miles north of the Garden, not many of these birds have ever been spotted south of Westchester County. But after careful research, I discovered that males wander during the month of April, presumably seeking new territory. It was on May 5 that I had what I hoped was a Pileated–the first for NYBG in decades.
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From here to Pelham Bay Park, and straight on down to Central Park, the kinship of bird watchers is peaking. April and May are something of a pilgrimage holiday for the truly dedicated ornithological set, though few in New York hoof it far from home; they set out with their binoculars, their pens, and their dog-eared notebooks, taking time off from work to travel a scant few miles to the nearest stand of trees.

These dyed-in-the-wool avian aficionados don’t come to the NYBG in spring specifically for the Red-tailed Hawks, or for the Great Horned Owls. Their prize is far smaller. And as prizes go, these birds seem more of an indulgence than the rare and elusive species recorded with fingers scribbling furiously between the lines of a “life list.” Many New York birders–seasoned or green–instead come to see the little puffs of color and song known as warblers.
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News for birding fanatics! The owls are making themselves known again at the NYBG, or so recent sightings would suggest. Friend of the Garden Pat Gonzalez informs me that a birdwatching group caught a glimpse of our Great Horned Owls mating (that’s a good sign) in the Forest near the hemlocks, meaning that we may have another small parliament of owls (I maintain that collective nouns are the most fun you can have in language arts) terrorizing our chipmunk population in the near future.

Despite often being year-round residents at the NYBG, we generally see neither hide nor feather of these airborne hunters due to their nocturnal habit–at least up until breeding season when diurnal hunting becomes more common. Having the leaves off the trees at this time of year also makes spotting these raptors more of a cinch. But when a storm toppled the birds’ favorite nesting tree, it made locating them something of a challenge. Seeing the owls going into 2012 has proven a hit-or-miss endeavor for our local birders.
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Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., beginning at the Reflecting Pool at the Leon Levy Visitor Center.

Long-eared Owl (Asio otus)

Winter brings many different things to New York City, but for a birder, the one special gift winter delivers is the owl. With the leaves off the trees, these cryptic, wise, and almost magical birds become easier to locate and observe. The New York Botanical Garden hosted a number of species this past year, including the Barred, two Saw-whet, two Long-eared and two Great Horned Owls. As a matter of fact, there were more owls in the Garden than in Pelham Bay Park, which has always been considered the area’s owl hub.

Birders on the NYBG’s Saturday morning bird walks are now hopeful these mystical creatures will return and grace us with their alluring presence.
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Join Debbie Becker on one of her weekly bird walks this Saturday, and you just might see more sweet little phoebes at the Garden.

Northern Phoebe on Twin Lakes (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

Debbie Becker’s ever-popular Bird Walks return this Saturday with a hunt for those tiny gems of the garden; hummingbirds! The walks begin at 11 a.m., leaving from the Reflecting Pool in front of the Visitor Center. A limited number of binoculars are available for loan at the Visitor Center Information Booth, so if you have a pair, bring them along, and be sure to wear sturdy shoes.

The diverse habitats of the Botanical Garden offer bird-watchers a chance to see dozens of species of birds throughout the year. The Garden’s magnificent 250-acres of outdoor gardens and collections, open meadows, native forest, and waterbodies such as the Bronx River and Twin Lakes entice birds migrating through the area in spring and fall and those that stay to nest in summer or to spend the winter.

We talked to some visitors and staff about their favorite birds and why they love birding at the Garden.

Upcoming Bird Walk themes include:

- In Pursuit of Hummingbirds September 10
- Great Hawk Migration September 24
- In Search of the Great Horned Owls November 19
- Annual Bird Count December 10
- Great Backyard Bird Count February 18

Tell us (by leaving a comment): What is your favorite bird? Have you had a great birding experience at the Garden?

Owls, Hawks, Sparrows, Even Wild Turkeys, Seen on Free Weekly Walks

Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center. Photos by Debbie Becker.

Fall arrives with a hint of winter and a longing for summer. The leaves fall and the trees begin to go dormant. For me and other birders, fall signifies transition with the migration of birds. The herons, egrets, and catbirds all leave for warmer climates. Their time in New York City has come to an end, and they flee before winter arrives. But with the fall, too, comes the arrival to New York of the winter birds: juncos, white-throated sparrows, chickadees, titmice, ducks, and owls. Some birders think that winter birding is the best, and it begins in the fall.

Autumn is sparrow season, and this fall has proven to be a spectacular one at that. So far at NYBG we have spotted field, tree, clay-colored, song, white-crowned, swamp, savannah, chipping, and white-throated (pictured above) sparrows. Along with the flocks of sparrows are yellow-rumped warblers and an assortment of other migrating birds: common yellowthroats, blackpolls, American redstarts, ovenbirds (one pictured at left), black-and-white warblers, black-throated green warblers, black-throated blue warblers, grosbeaks, tanagers, and a variety of vireos and flycatchers.

We have also spotted overhead at Daffodil Hill migrating turkey vultures, osprey, Cooper’s hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, a kestrel, a rough-winged hawk, and a wonderful merlin that soared in the sunlight, illuminating the copper and red in its wings.

The great horned owls that now inhabit the Forest at NYBG are second generation, as the longtime resident male and female have since died. A junior male (pictured), a possible offspring of the pair, and a new mate have staked their territory. It is amazing to see the junior male roosting in the same spot where the former owls did. He carries on the tradition of hooting in the same Forest area; we look forward to seeing their owlets.

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers, a name that always elicits a laugh, are plentiful at the Garden as are other woodpeckers: hairy, downy, and a persistent red-bellied that can be observed by Twin Lakes. It flies back and forth, grabbing acorns from an oak and depositing them in an open knot in a tree, storing them for winter.

Chickadees and titmice have arrived in record numbers. Recently we watched a brown thrasher by the crabapples wandering up the road as a hermit thrush and eastern phoebe looked on. Cedar waxwings and robins that will spend the winter at the Garden were eating berries from a polycarpa tree. Grackles, which migrate in the thousands, have begun lighting on nearby lawns.

Before you start thinking about Thanksgiving, come see the two wild turkeys that are regularly seen behind Shop in the Garden. They peck and scrape the gravel and grass looking for morsels to feed on.

I look forward to cool days with misty air—and birds that delight us. Come join us on a walk.

It’s Been a Hoot for Debbie Becker, Who Launches New Season on Saturday

Carol Capobianco is Editorial Content Manager at The New York Botanical Garden, and Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.

Every Saturday at 11 a.m. throughout most of the year, a few dozen people gather at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center with binoculars and high hopes. They’ve come to go on a walk in search of the birds that live at the Botanical Garden either year-round or temporarily during migration periods.

The tour leader, Debbie Becker, who this season marks her 25th year conducting bird walks at the Garden, knows all the nooks and crannies, and all the favorite spots of many of the nearly 200 species that have been recorded in the Garden over the years. In other words, if someone wants to see a particular bird—say, the resident great horned owls or the aberrant white-winged crossbills—Debbie can deliver.

“The habitat dictates what kind of bird you’re going to see,” explains Debbie. “And in the Garden’s 250 acres of diversified habitat, you can see a lot of birds. You can walk from a forest, to a meadow, river, waterfall, ornamental garden, and native plant garden in just a couple of hours.” read more »