2014 New York State Year List

I did not start 2014 planning on a big year list. Certainly, breaking 300 species in New York State during the year never crossed my mind. It has been forty years since I broke that number in New York in one year. But last March I led my annual Linnaean weekend trip out Long Island to Montauk and back with spectacular success. I was also on some of the most successful pelagic trips ever done in New York waters in February and August picking up a state bird in January (Atlantic Puffin) and five life birds on the August trip (Fea's Petrel, Audubon's Shearwater, White-faced Storm-Petrel, Leach's Storm-Petrel, and Band-rumped Storm-Petrel). Add to that the amazing Willow Ptarmigan up by the Saint Lawrence last winter and a summer vacation/camping trip with Ann and I went into the fall with my largest year list in decades. It was at that time that my friend Sean Sime suggested I really should break 300 for the year, especially if I worked on it just a little. So it wasn't until September that I seriously considered going for 300. With some effort, and some help from Sean, I ended the year with 307 species - my best ever one year list in New York State! Even more incredibly, I added eleven species to my all time New York State list bringing my total to 414 species. In recent years I have considered myself doing well to pick up one new bird a year. Several of these eleven are new additions to the official New York State list, pending acceptance by the New York State Avian Records Committee. I was not the original finder on any of these, but to get this many in one year was not something I ever dreamt of doing. The total list of 307 is below. I have highlighted my new state birds in red and underlined my life birds. It was an incredible year! In retrospect, perhaps I should have expected a good year when I started it with a Gyrfalcon at Cedar Beach on January 1 - thanks to a heads-up phone call from Sean while Ann and I were out at Floyd Bennett Field looking at Snowy Owls.

Pink-footed Goose (Montauk weekend)
Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Ross's Goose (Montauk weekend)
Brant
Barnacle Goose
Cackling Goose (Montauk weekend)
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Trumpeter Swan (Montezuna NWR)
Tundra Swan (Montauk weekend)
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
King Eider
Common Eider
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye (Montauk weekend)
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Willow Ptarmigan (1st NYS record)
Wild Turkey
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Northern Fulmar (February pelagic)
Fea's Petrel (August pelagic; 1st NYS record)
Cory's Shearwater (August pelagic)
Great Shearwater (August pelagic)
Audubon's Shearwater (August pelagic)
Wilson's Storm-Petrel (August pelagic)
White-faced Storm-Petrel (August pelagic)
Leach's Storm-Petrel (August pelagic)
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel (August pelagic)
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Cormorant
American White Pelican (Montezuna NWR)
American Bittern
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Gyrfalcon
Peregrine Falcon
Clapper Rail
Virginia Rail
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Sandhill Crane (Montezuna NWR)
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
American Avocet
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Upland Sandpiper
Hudsonian Godwit
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Dunlin
Stilt Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
American Woodcock
Black-legged Kittiwake (February pelagic)
Bonaparte's Gull
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Iceland Gull (Montauk weekend)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Montauk weekend)
Glaucous Gull (Montauk weekend)
Great Black-backed Gull
Least Tern
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Roseate Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Parasitic Jaeger
Dovekie (February pelagic)
Common Murre (February pelagic)
Razorbill (February pelagic)
Atlantic Puffin (February pelagic)
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove (2nd NYS record)
Monk Parakeet
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo
Barn Owl
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Snowy Owl
Barred Owl
Short-eared Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Common Nighthawk
Chuck-will's-widow
Eastern Whip-poor-will
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Alder Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Couch's Kingbird (1st NYS record)
Cassin's Kingbird (2nd NYS record)
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Northern Shrike (Montauk weekend)
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Boreal Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Bicknell's Thrush
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Lapland Longspur
Snow Bunting
Ovenbird
Worm-eating Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush
Northern Waterthrush
Blue-winged Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Connecticut Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
American Redstart
Cape May Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Canada Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Eastern Towhee
American Tree Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Henslow's Sparrow
Le Conte's Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Dickcissel
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Rusty Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Purple Finch
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow