Urban Ornithology: 150 Years of Birds in New York City

Urban Ornithology is the first quantitative historical analysis of any New York City natural area’s birdlife – Van Cortlandt Park and the adjacent Northwest Bronx – and spans the century and a half from 1872 to 2016. Only Manhattan’s Central and Brooklyn’s Prospect Parks have preliminary species lists, not revised since 1967, and the last book examining the birdlife of the entire New York City area is now more than fifty years old. The present book also updates the avifaunas of those two parks, the Bronx, and other New York City boroughs.

Urban Ornithology treats the 301 bird species known to have occurred within its study area, plus fifty potential additions.  Its 123 breeding species are tracked from 1872, only twenty years after Audubon’s death in Manhattan, supplemented by quantitative breeding bird censuses from 1937 to 2015.  Gains and losses of breeding species are discussed in light of an expanding New York City inexorably extinguishing unique habitats.  The many tradeoffs inherent in managing an urban park area for mass recreation while conserving its natural resources are examined throughout.