Our project aimed to discover whether the physical characteristics of Brooklyn Bridge Park (BBP) and Van Cortlandt Park (VCP) have an effect on the bird species richness within the two parks. We hypothesized that VCP would have a greater BSR than BBP due to its larger size and the greater amount of habitats found within the park. Using BioBlitz data from BBP and VCP, as well as the parks’ official websites and maps for descriptive park information, we calculated two individual BSR values—one using raw bird data, with the other using sorted data from the parks’ main sites. Our hypothesis was partially rejected because the raw data collected from either park showed that VCP had a greater variety in bird species than BBP (Figure 1), while the t-test results showed variation in BSR that was not statistically significant and likely due to random occurrence (Figure 2). Our findings show that larger and more diverse parks could support greater BSR, highlighting the importance of preserving biodiversity in urban areas. However, further research is necessary for more comprehensive findings, especially due to the inconsistency in results between the raw data’s BSR and sorted data’s BSR.
