Central Park Birding

Central Park Birding:: starting birding

I started birding seriously back in 1977 in Great Britain, and started photographing birds not long afterwards. There are perhaps 250 reasonably likely birds within the UK (my UK list is 219) although the British list stands at 570. In contrast, the most committed birders within the USA have US lists exceeding 700 species and someone that has birder Central Park for a decade might have a park list of 200 (mine is 192). This makes the identification challenge facing new birders larger than anything I ever faced as a kid.

Nevertheless birding is not particularly difficult. For one thing Central Park is very accessible, it costs nothing to wander around and encounter birds. But to identify them you are going to have to get better acquainted with the species concerned. For this you'll want a pair of binoculars, a field guide, and perhaps someone to guide you through the confusing early stages.

Binoculars: many people think you have to spend $1,000 to get a decent pair of binoculars. That's simply not true. Cheaper pairs are perfectly servicable. You want either 8x or 10x binoculars (this refers to the magnification factor) with fairly large objectives (32mm or 42mm) - typically 8x32, 10x32, 10x42 although actual values may vary. Smaller, portable binoculars with smaller 25mm objectives (8x25, 10x25) are certainly lighter but they have quite narrow fields of view which makes it very difficult to find birds in some circumstances. All other factors being equal larger objectives mean a brighter field of view and a wider field of view - something you might come to appreciate when searching for warblers in the foliage. Lower magnifications (7x) don't magnify the bird enough, and larger ones (12x) tend to emphasize hand-shake too much. In NYC itself either Adorama or B+H are probably the best places to try and buy binculars with a good selection at very competetive prices. A good online vendor is Eagle Optics.

There are a plethora of binoculars around $100, but again I'd advise staying away from the compact ones. Similarly zoom binoculars and marine binoculars should also be avoided. I personally frequently use the Swift Audubon 8.5x44 which are inexpensive ($300) and relatively waterproof. I personally prefer the wider porro prism design over the narrower roof prism design but you have quite a few options at this price level. Somewhat upmarket The Nikon 8x32 SE ($600) are nice small porro prism binoculars, and I used the similar 10x42 SE 9 ($800) before I dropped them from the roof of my car. Neither of them are waterproof. At around this level there are several older design roof prism models that actually are waterproof. Up at the really high end you could spend $1,800 on a pair of Swarovski EL 10x42 binoculars - but this is completely unwarranted unless you have a lot of spare cash and are destined to get obsessive-compulsive about birding. In which case, I personally prefer the Leica 10x42 Ultravids at a marginally more modest $1,700. The the high end the optics are basically diffraction limited and so ergonomic factors are much more important than any optical difference you might encounter. If you wear glasses (I don't) you have to factor in the usability with eyeglasses, which effects your field of view somewhat.

Birdwatching.com has a piece on birding optics if you want to explore the issue further. Eagle Optics also has a binocular buying guide.

Field Guides however are a much less complicated subject. The cutting edge of field guides are the so-called "Sibley Guides". The Sibley Guide to Birds is big and not really field-portable. The smaller Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America is somewhat more suitable for carrying around with you. However beginner birders may find the venerable Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America by Roger Tory Peterson of more use than the more advanced Sibley Guides. The National Geographic Field Guide To The Birds Of North America, 4th Edition by National Geographic Society but this has been surpassed by the Sibley guides in most respects. I personally do not care for the "Golden Guide" - Birds of North America : A Guide To Field Identification.