Bronx County Bird Club

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The Bronx County Bird Club (BCBC) was a small informal club of birders based in the Bronx, New York, which was active between 1924 and the 1940s, with residual activity through to 1978. Its founders were described by The New York Times Magazine in 2015 as "a group of competitive, iconoclastic young naturalists",[1] and by Chicago Reader in 1987 as "smart-assed teenagers" who "astounded their stuffy elders with the sightings they reported and their ability to defend the accuracy of those sightings".[2] Ernst Mayr described the group as "a somewhat rowdy group of youngsters who were having a wonderful time".[3]

Formation

The group's interest in birding began in 1918 when John (Matty)[4] Matuszewski, his older brother Charlie, and Richard Kuerzi began looking for birds at the Hunts Point dump near where they lived, working from a copy of Chester A. Reed's Bird Guide: Land Birds East of the Rockies.[5] Charlie, a member of Boy Scout Troop 149, was working on his bird study merit badge at the time.[6] It was at the dump that several of the future members of the club encountered naturalist Charles Johnston, who introduced them to the Linnaean Society where they met other Bronx birders.[7]

The BCBC was officially founded on November 29, 1924 by nine teenage boys: John F. Kuerzi and his brother Richard, Joseph Hickey, Allan D. Cruickshank, Frederick J. Ruff, Richard A. Herbert, Irving Kassoy, John E. Matuszewski and Philip Kessler. William Vogt later became a member.[2]

In about 1927, Roger Tory Peterson joined the club as its tenth member, the club having waived its unwritten rule that only Bronx residents could join.[5][8] Peterson was also the last living member of the club.[9] Ludlow Griscom, who acted as a mentor to the club, taught Peterson how to quickly identify birds visually.[10][1] Griscom's 1923 book, Birds of the New York City Region, was depended upon by the club members.[11] Helen G. Cruickshank, wife of Allan, was made an honorary member in either 1937[12] or 1978.[6] Ernst Mayr was also associated with the club.[6][3]

Locations

The members purchased a used Buick which they used to travel to birding locations, with sewer outfalls and garbage dumps as popular destinations. They found, for example, four snowy owls feeding on rats at the Hunts Point Dump.[13] The BCBC did not limit itself to observing in the Bronx. In 1931 they were reported to have made several trips to Putnam County.[14] The club members took over 40,000 photographs covering 400 species of birds.[12]

A last BCBC meeting was held in early 1978 at Fort Myers, Florida, with surviving club members travelling from Florida, New York, Wisconsin, and Antarctica.[6]

Christmas census

In 1922, the club participated for the first time in the annual Christmas census run by the Audubon Society. They observed 35 species in Pelham Bay, Van Cortlandt, and Bronx parks. In the 1923 census, they found 26 species.[5] 1925 yielded 67. In 1926 it was 83, with 87 in 1927 and 93 in 1929.[6] In 1934, the club spotted 97 species, reported to be one more than they had the previous year.[15] By the group's twelfth census in 1935, 107 species were seen.[5][6] In later years, the Queens County Bird Club were rivals in the competition.[16]

The club introduced a new technique, with teams of two or three assigned to survey specific areas.[17] This proved to be a successful strategy, with the BCBC observing more species in the eastern US than any other team for three consecutive years. The 1935 total of 107 species was the first time any census participant had ever found more than 100.[6] Initially called the Bronx County Christmas Bird Count, the boundary lines were redrawn in 1940 to include lower Westchester County and renamed the Bronx-Westchester Christmas Bird Count.[11]

The last BCBC member to participate in a Christmas count was Richard Herbert in 1956.[18]

Additional reading

  • Greenfield, George (1935-12-25). "Wood, Field and Stream". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  • Kastner, Joseph (April 15, 1979). "Battle of the Bird Books". The New York Times Magazine. p. 16. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-13.

References

  1. ^ a b Macdonald, Helen (2015-06-19). "On Nature: Identification, Please". The New York Times Magazine. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  2. ^ a b Sullivan, Jerry (1987-08-27). "Field & Street". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  3. ^ a b Mayr, Ernst. "The Bronx County Bird Club" (Interview). Web of Stories. Archived from the original on August 24, 2017.
  4. ^ Ridl, Julie G. (October 1989). "The Bronx Age: Nine New York teenagers adn their birding revolution" (PDF). Birder's World: 26–29 – via Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame.
  5. ^ a b c d Ferrand, John, Jr. (Fall 1991). "Bronx County Bird Club: Memories of Ten Boys And an Era That Shaped American Birding" (PDF). American Birds. 45 (3): 372–381.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Allen, Deborah; DeCandido, Robert (2022-02-16). "The Bronx Age: History of the Bronx County Bird Club 1924–1978 (the BCBC!)". BirdingBob. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  7. ^ Chaisson, Bill (April 25, 2020). "Birding by sight and sound". The Eagle Times. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  8. ^ Peterson, Roger Tory (Winter 1989). "William Vogt: a man ahead of his time" (PDF). American Birds. 43 (5): 1254–1255.
  9. ^ Dunne, Pete (1994-07-17). "In The Natural State". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  10. ^ "The Making of a Field Guide: Roger Tory Peterson". Linda Hall Library Online Exhibitions. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  11. ^ a b "The Bronx Westchester Christmas Bird Count". Hudson River Audubon Society. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  12. ^ a b Rosenzweig, Leah. "How the Bronx Became an Unlikely Birdwatching Haven". InsideHook. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  13. ^ Shushkewich, Val (2012-11-17). More Than Birds: Adventurous Lives of North American Naturalists. Dundurn. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-4597-0559-3.
  14. ^ Linnaean Society of New York (September 18, 1918). Abstract of the Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New York City, for the year ending March 12, 1918. Linnaean Society of New York. p. 60.
  15. ^ "97 Species of Birds Found in this Area; Bronx Club Members' Census Reveals One More Kind Than Last Year". The New York Times. 1934-12-28. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  16. ^ "A Bird Worth the Chase, Even After Death". Audubon. 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  17. ^ Panze, Shayna (1978-01-01). "Birdwatchers Make Census of the Skies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  18. ^ "A Timeline History of the Bronx Westchester Christmas Bird Count From 1924 to Now". Hudson River Audubon Society. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
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