Palm Warbler and Gray-cheeked Thrush, Central Park, NY, October 2013

The family is in the midst of the college search process for my daughter, and she has picked a number of possible universities in New York City.  So over the Columbus Day weekend we planned a trip to Manhattan to visit several of them.  And with no schools to tour on Sunday, that would give us some free time to visit some of the local attractions.  I had never been to Central Park, but of course had heard a lot about the birding potential in this urban oasis.  So with everyone likely to sleep in that day, I decided to plan an early morning trip to the park to try for some New York statebirds.  I’ve got a pretty good list for NY (264), but still have a number of fairly easy birds to target that had been seen recently in Central Park (per e-Bird) including Palm and Pine Warblers, White-eyed Vireo, and Gray-cheeked Thrush.

Now I needed to figure out where to go in the park.  Central Park is very large, and I would only have chance to bird a very small portion in one morning.  With some research on the web I found a bit of information about possible birding spots, and there were indeed many spots mentioned.  Though I couldn’t find any good site guides for birding the park (maybe I just wasn’t looking in the right places).  I also found that there are regular birdwalks in the park on Sundays, but they charge $10 to participate.  I’ve never been fond of paying to participate in a birdwalk that is in a publicly accessible spot, so I decided to go it alone.  I would have a taxi drop me off near the middle of the park and I’d wander around from there looking for good habitat.

After a short taxi ride I arrived at 79^th and 5^th Avenue at dawn and began to walk to the west.  Most of the immediate area consisted of manicured lawns and isolated trees, though there was some patches of brush here and there.  Not surprisingly the brush contained the most birds (mostly White-throated and Song Sparrows) and the lawns had quite a number of Robins.  But I needed to find better habitat.  A bit to the west I noticed a more extensive brushy area so I headed there and found some very good habitat.  Highlights were a skulking Winter Wren and a berry-laden bush with a couple Hermit Thrushes.  I turned the corner and found even better habitat in a place which was called the Maintenance Field.  Notable birds here were flocks of 50+ sparrows of 5 species (including 2 Fields), Blue-headed Vireo, more Hermit Thrushes with a couple Swainson’s, a very late “Traill’s” Flycatcher, and a late flyover flock of Chimney Swifts.  In one berry bush I got a brief glimpse of a Catharus thrush that could have been a Gray-cheeked.  But it disappeared in the bush not to be seen again.  Here I ran into a birder who was most helpful and he advised me to head into The Ramble which is an extensive area that is more natural with significant undergrowth and mature deciduous trees, along with some streams and ponds. 

At my first stop in The Ramble I ran into more of the same – sparrows, a couple Sapsuckers, and more Hermit Thrushes.  Then I saw a flash of yellow fly by and it turned out to be a Palm Warbler – a new NY statebird.  As shown in my statebird map below, I’ve seen this species in most of its normal range though still need it in WV.

 Other warblers that morning were numerous Yellow-rumps, a Yellowthroat, a late Black-throated Blue, and a very late Ovenbird.  And along with 3 Blue-headed Vireos that was a pretty good mix of late warblers and vireos.

Maybe the best highlight of the morning was the thrushes.  In addition to many Robins I had an estimated 15 Hermits and 2 Swainson’s Thrushes feeding in the numerous berry bushes in the area.  And at one spot I found a very late Wood Thrush foraging on the ground.  But the best sighting was at a small spring with adjacent berry bushes.  I had run into a novice birder at this spot and was helping him identify the Hermit Thrushes feeding there.  And just then another thrush flew in and posed very cooperatively at the top of the bush – a Gray-cheeked; a second new statebird.  I haven’t seen too many Gray-cheeks – and my statebird map shows that I still need this uncommon migrant in many eastern states.

In my 4 hours birding I ended up with 50 species in this very birdy area, and only had a few Starlings, House Sparrows, and Rock Pigeons.  Birding really slowed down quite a bit after about 10 as more people filled the park so I’m glad I got there early.  I spent almost the entire time in The Ramble, and still only birded less than half of that area.  There will likely be more college trips to NYC so maybe there will be more opportunities to fill gaps in my NY statelist.  And many more areas in Central Park to explore. 

View of "The Lake" looking west