Backyard birdwatchers have it easy. They can just sit back on their fancy verandas sipping mint juleps while a cavalcade of birds flaunt themselves in succession. Urban birders actually have to leave their homes to spot anything but pigeons. However, thanks to a cosmic convergence of geography and good fortune, Mike once lived in an apartment from which interesting birds could actually be seen.

The picture above is the view from our living room window, what I see from the computer. We are five stories up and overlook a school. Beyond the luxury building in white is the Hudson River. That large tree in the foreground is a popular perch for all kinds of birds. The rules of this list are simple: we can only count birds we see from our apartment. We may move to a different window as long as it looks out over the same view. This Bronx Backyard bird list will be updated regularly as a testament to the unexpected biodiversity of our favorite borough.

There are now 36 birds on this list, with the latest one (Snow Goose) added December 8, 2006.

1. American Crow
2. American Goldfinch
3. American Kestrel
4. American Robin
5. Bald Eagle
6. Baltimore Oriole
7. Barn Swallow
8. Black-capped Chickadee
9. Blue Jay
10. Canada Goose
11. Chimney Swift
12. Common Grackle
13. Cooper’s Hawk
14. Dark-eyed Junco
15. Double-crested Cormorant
16. Downy Woodpecker
17. Eastern Kingbird
18. European Starling
19. Great Blue Heron
20. Herring Gull
21. House Finch
22. House Sparrow
23. Great Black-backed Gull
24. Mourning Dove
25. Northern Cardinal
26. Northern Mockingbird
27. Osprey
28. Peregrine Falcon
29. Red-tailed Hawk
30. Red-bellied Woodpecker
31. Ring-billed Gull
32. Rock Pigeon
33. Sharp-shinned Hawk
34. Snow Goose
35. Tufted Titmouse
36. White-breasted Nuthatch