Get Outdoors
|
Archived Articles Archived Articles
Species on the Brink
Resources at Risk
Good News
Get Outdoors |
Central Park Offers Rare Haven for Migrating Birds By Cat Lazaroff NEW YORK, New York, December 20, 2001 (ENS) - Binoculars pressed firmly to their intent faces, a tight knot of people creeps slowly through the trees in search of a tiny target. It is October in New York's Central Park, the height of the fall bird migration, and this intrepid group of hunters is stalking a northern waterthrush, a tiny member of avian sub-group know as warblers. Birds in Central Park? Though it may come as a surprise to newcomers to the city, and perhaps even to some long time New Yorkers, Central Park is one of the top birdwatching areas in the United States. Christopher Hayes, director-producer with New Media, has videotaped more than 125 species of wild birds living in Central Park. Warblers, sparrows, chickadees, an olive-sided flycatcher, a scarlet tananger - birdwatchers, or birders as they prefer to be called, come from all over the world to look for these birds and many others in this urban oasis.
Often, exhausted and hungry, they find themselves over the gray concrete jungle of the greater New York area, in which Central Park appears as an island of green. This makes the park a particularly good place to visit during spring and fall migration seasons. Joseph DiCostanzo is an ornithologist and researcher with the Great Gull Island Project based at the American Museum of Natural History, and has been birding in Central Park for nearly 30 years. Working at the Museum, which is located on the border of the park, allows DiCostanzo to spend his free time working on his park list - the list of all the species he has seen within the park boundaries - which now stands at about 300 species. He points out that part of the reason for Central Park's fame as a great birding area is because of its location and ease of access. "Central Park is famous because of the coverage it gets from the birders," said DiCostanzo. "Birders can go birding at Central Park in the morning and still be at their jobs at 9:15." This extensive coverage of the park means that it is a particularly good area for beginning birders to get started. "You can go up to anybody wearing a pair of binoculars in Central Park and just say hi and ask them what they've seen and they'll tell you," DiCostanzo said. Most of the regular birders in the park are happy to show newcomers the best areas to bird, as well as pointing out interesting or unusual sightings. The universal badge of birders, their binoculars, will immediately identify the people to approach for information. "Its a lot of fun showing birds to people who are just getting interested," DiCostanzo added. "It recaptures some of the fun of when I was starting out." Because the migration corridor is not limited to the park, DiCostanzo notes that, at least during the highly concentrated spring migration, "you can find birds in just about any group of trees in the city." The best area to bird in Central Park is a large section in the southern half of the park known as the Ramble. This location is criss-crossed with paths that meander through a fairly natural area of trees and brush. Within the Ramble is the Azalea Pond, a spectacular spot for birds at any time of the year, but particularly in winter, when local birders put up feeders to help tide over the resident birds. Just north of the Ramble, accessible from the 79th Street Transverse, is Belvedere Castle. The Central Park Conservancy has an office there, where beginning birders can obtain maps of the park, checklists of bird species, and even borrow binoculars and field guides. Another attraction at Belvedere Castle is the hawk watch that is held from September to November of each year. Hawks and other birds of prey pass over Central Park on their migration south, and because these birds migrate during the day, they can be observed from the park, sometimes in great numbers. During the summer, a pair of red-tailed hawks, which have nested successfully for the past three years on a window ledge overlooking Fifth Avenue, can be observed with binoculars from many places in the park. A list of recent bird sightings in the park can be found at the Loeb Boathouse and Cafe, which caters to birders by keeping the semi-official log of birder observations. Anyone who is looking for people to bird with can stop by the Boathouse and ask to see the log; if you stand there for more than a few minutes, DiCostanzo said, other birders are bound to come by. Birders have been visiting Central Park since it was created in 1858. Originally designed to mirror the English landscapes that were popular at the time, the park's function and purpose have been overhauled many times in its 139 year history. In recent decades, the park's overseers have recognized the ecological importance of the park as a migration stopover and a breeding ground for many species, and have tailored some of their actions toward maintaining aspects of the park that are attractive to birds. This includes attempts to control nonnative vegetation, and to allow some park areas to remain relatively wild to provide food and cover for animals. Birding in Central Park can be a unique experience. DiCostanzo tells a story about a day, years ago, when he and some fellow birders were looking for a northern saw-whet owl that had been reported in the park. Birders who had seen the owl were able to give specific directions to finding the bird. Walk down the path near the Azalea pond, they said, and "stand in front of the middle bench, and 15 feet back over the drunk's left shoulder, you'll see the saw-whet!" Sure enough, these uniquely New York style directions produced the bird. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2001. All rights reserved. |
Central Park is in a unique position. Situated along the Atlantic Flyway, a
migration corridor that stretches from the Arctic Circle to the southern
tip of South America, Central Park is visited annually by hundreds of bird
species. Many birds migrate during the night using the stars as
navigational aids, and land wherever they happen to be at sunrise.
