Trips

Best. Yard. List. Ever. (In New York Anyway)

October 8, 2007 by Corey 6 Comments

Do any birders out on the internets have $800,000 to spare? Because what is possibly the best home for a birder to live in in New York State is on the market right now! I can pretty much guarantee that if you buy this house you will not have to leave your back porch to get a yard list of well over 100 species in a year, including rarities for the region like Curlew Sandpiper, Eurasian Wigeon, and Red-necked Phalarope. Where is this house? Well, I’ll make you click to read more…

house with a view

house for sale on Jamaica Bay’s East Pond

This bizarrely-located house is on the south end of Jamaica Bay’s East Pond, one of the premiere birding destinations in the northeastern United States. There are no neighbors except for wildlife. I have no idea how such a house came to be built but talk about location! How would you like to wake up in the morning and drink coffee on your porch while watching this?

Great Egret and Snowy Egrets

one Great and many Snowy Egrets at Jamaica Bay’s East Pond

Sure, sometimes the stench is kind of bad and birders will be wandering past your backyard all of the time, but really these are small sacrifices for the many birds you will see. Waterfowl and shorebirds and herons and ibis will be everyday sightings…IN YOUR YARD!!! Want more information? Here’s the for sale sign:

house for sale

If you do decide to buy this house after you read about it here please invite me to visit. I’ll bring a six-pack and we can sit on your porch and look at birds and I’ll never, ever, leave.

Jamaica Bay Queens

Written by Corey

Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.

6 Comments

John October 8, 2007 at 5:27 pm
The last time I was at Jamaica Bay, I wondered what the houses along Cross Bay Boulevard typically went for. Given the small size and location on a noisy highway, I was thinking more like $200,000. Apparently I was far too low.
Corey October 9, 2007 at 8:11 am
That’s New York City real estate for you…
Even a studio apartment is well over $800 a month!
Will October 9, 2007 at 11:13 am
10,000 Birds should buy it and open a center!
Corey October 9, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Just get us some financing. I hear that subprime mortgages are the way to go…
Will October 9, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Get the adjustable rate, interest only payments… Save you a ton of cash (you will just never pay it off)
Mary Carlson October 9, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Wow! A birder’s paradise of a naturally landscaped – or should I say water-scaped back yard! Ahh! Maintenance-free, too. Are birds guaranteed to still be there during the harsh winter months? ;o)