The following resources are designed to aid beginning and advanced birders alike.
Cover: Great Egret. Inwood Hill Park. July 29, 2024.
Technology – Digital Guides
Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds is an indispensable online guide to birds and resources for birdwatching.
Also from the Cornell Lab:
BirdCast: Migration tools include bird migration forecast maps, local migration alerts, live migration maps, and migration dashboard. The dashboard is useful for local migration. Enter a county for migration patterns in near real time.
Merlin App: Identify birds from your phone with sound recordings and photos.
Ebird: Latest sightings filed from the field by users.
From Apple: The Photos app uses AI to scan your bird photos and attempt to make an ID. Read more about this technology in a news item in this post.
From Audubon: The Bird Migration Explorer tracks 450 species on their migration journey. See where the birds originate, the arrival times of tracked species, conservation issues, and more.
New York Birding Organizations and Clubs
Wild Bird Fund is a nonprofit supporting care and rehabilitation of injured wildlife. Located at 565 Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side in New York City. https://www.wildbirdfund.org/
NYC Bird Alliance: New York City Audubon’s Board of Directors voted in March 2023 to change the organization’s name, dropping “Audubon.” The local organization sponsors events and advocacy. https://nycbirdalliance.org/
New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation offers online resources on birding including a map of the NYS Birding Trail. Their “2025 I BIRD NY Challenge” is a fun way to learn basic birding IDs.
New York State Ornithological Association website includes a checklist of state birds.
Birding Events
World Migratory Bird Day, created by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, is celebrated the second Saturdays in May and in October. The event raises awareness about decline of bird populations worldwide due to climate change and loss of habitat. 1 in 4 birds have vanished in our lifetime. Read a report on the May 2025 event.
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, nearly 3 billion breeding adult birds have been lost in US and Canada since 1970. “More than 90% of the losses (more than 2.5 billion birds) come from just 12 families including the sparrows, blackbirds, warblers, and finches.” (source – https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back/)
Great Backyard Bird Count sponsored by Cornell Lab and Audubon. February 13-16, 2026 . Community-driven reports. https://www.birdcount.org/
Christmas Bird Count sponsored by Audubon. Community event over the holiday.
Local Inwood tidal resources
Tidal information for the Salt Marsh may be found at marineweather. net. Look specifically for Spuyten Duyvil Creed/Hudson River Tides. Read more in the post on the Yellow Warbler and watching the tides.
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