(Left to right) Carolyn Monastra and Stanley Greenberg in Prospect Park on Saturday morning. Birders at the boathouse in Prospect Park. Crystal Thiele scans the tree canopy in Prospect
park on Saturday. Photos by Zoe Freilich
BY BEN VERDE
Dozens of bird-loving
Brooklynites flocked to the
borough’s greenspaces over
the weekend for the 120th annual
Christmas Bird Count,
where they recorded over
26,000 feathered creatures
throughout Kings County.
Ninety bird watchers took
part in the event, where they
spotted numerous rare types
of birds, including 11 American
Woodcock, 4 species of
Warbler, and a Bald Eagle.
The hobbyists also recorded
COURIER LIFE, D 10 ECEMBER 20-26, 2019
93 Carolina Wrens
— an extremely high number
for this time of the year,
which one aficionado credits
with a warming climate that
keeps the birds from flying
south.
“That’s got to be a climate
indicator,” said Stanley
Greenberg, a member of the
Brooklyn Birding Club who
ventured through Prospect
Park on Saturday morning.
Overall, the 26,834 total
birds spotted throughout the
borough was a record-low
for the 120-year-old event,
and comes after a study depicted
dramatic decreases in
the number of birds across
North America — although
Greenberg cautioned that
the low numbers could not
be definitively attributed
to any greater downward
trend.
“It’s like the difference
between weather and climate,”
he said.
The annual bird count was
started on Christmas Day in
1900 as a way to keep track of
fowl populations nationwide
— at a time when the most
common way to study birds
was to shoot them and study
their corpse.
And despite this year’s
oddly-low overall count, the
avian enthusiast said the
event was worthwhile.
“We had a great time of
course, because we were out
birding,” said Greenberg.
Brooklyn fowl-fanatics take
part in Christmas Bird Count
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