Central Park Birding:: About the Park
At 843 acres, or approximately 2.5 miles by 0.5 miles, Central Park is a large urban park, stretching from 59th Street to 110th Street and Fifth Avenue to Central Park West (i.e. Eighth Avenue) in one of the most densely populated islands in the world. A combination of it's sheer size and varied original design means that Central Park offers a range of habitats, from the 100 acre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir that attracts wintering waterfowl to the nearly 40 acre Ramble that contains extensive canopy and some understory. And of course, being a park, there's no shortage of grassland.
The park has had a rather eventful history, dominated by politics, and sometimes neglected. However it has undergone somewhat of a renaissance in recent years. It's also undergone numerous modifications due to various influences. Robert Moses led a radical clean-up of the neglected park in the 1930's, filled in the old Croton Reservoir to create the Great Lawn, added playgrounds and ballfields. However this period of improvement was matched by a period of decline during the 1960's and 70's until the founding of the Central Park Conservancy in 1980. This non-profit group still manages the park by virtue of a contract with the NYC Parks Dept. The Conservancy relies on donations by private individuals, corporations etc for the vast majority of its operating budget, yet has been responsible for a remarkable resurgence in the fortunes of the park. (See the Conservancy website for more on Central Park history, and on the Conservancy's history).
Central Park remains the most visted urban park, with approximately 25 million visitors per year. By comparison Yosemite National Park gets ~3.5 million visitors per year and Yellowstone National Park gets ~3 million visitors annually.
Street parking in Manhattan is difficult at the best of times, and parking garages are expensive
so I recommend coming into Manhattan via public transport if at all possible. Most parking meters
are of short duration (1 or 2 hours) and are active even on Sundays
- the city council recently passed a ruling that eliminated parking
meter charges on Sundays, even though signs may remain to the contrary.
By subway: the west side is better served than the east side in this regard. The C line runs local up Central Park West, with stops at 72nd St and 81st St being particularly convenient since they are right at the edge of the park. Be aware that the A line runs express over the same route, and stops only at 59th St at the extreme south-west corner. (The A runs local 10:30pm-6am). The 1 line runs a little further west on local stops, with the 2 and 3 lines running express over the same route (2/3 stops at 72nd and 86th being most convenient, the 1 also stops at 66th, 79th, 86th). On the east side your option basically is the 6 line (local) stopping at 68th, 78th, 86th or 96th or the 4 and 5 lines running express over the same route and stopping at 59th and 86th streets only. You'll have to walk a few blocks west from the Lexington Avenue 4/5/6 stops to the park. Check out the MTA subway map for more details. The F and N/R lines also run close to the park, stopping at the south end and south-east corner. Contrary to what you might expect, New Yorkers are quite helpful in setting you straight if you manage to get lost on the subway system.
By bus: there are numerous bus lines running up both sides of the park, and a few that cross the park at the traverses. On the east side the M1/M2/M3/M4 run "up" (i.e. northbound) on Madison Ave and "down" (southbound) on 5th Ave. On the west side, the M10 runs up and down Central Park West, the M7 and M11 run up Amsterdam and down Columbus. The M66 and M72 buses run across the 65th Street traverse between east and west sides. The M79 crosses the park at 79th St, the M86 at 86th St and the M96 at 96th St. If you are not confused enough already, you can download the MTA Manhattan bus map.
By cab: usually I'd recommend specifying the following intersections to cab drivers: "72nd and 5th Ave" for the Ramble; "72nd and Central Park West" for Strawberry Fields and the west shore of the Lake; "81st and Central Park West" for Tanner's Spring and Turtle Pond area; "110th and 5th Ave" for Harlem Meer. These are all on the outer edge of the park. Telling them to take you to "Central Park" is analogous to telling them to take you to Manhattan: it's a big place, and you probably want to go somewhere more specific. Cab drivers can also be induced to go to the Central Park (Loeb) Boathouse before they close the park drives at 10am, but don't expect them to always know where that is. They will not drop you at arbitrary locations within the park nor will they pick you up within it even if you see a free cab driving by. You must walk out to the local streets to hail a cab.
Central Park's property of concentrating migrants into a small area, and the rapid communication of sightings, make it a very productive area to bird and one of the top 100 North American Birding Hot Spots. About 200 species occur in the park fairly regularly, and about another 85 are found only very rarely - see my summary by species for more details.
In the "field" in Central Park, sightings are communicated by word-of-mouth and
also increasingly by cell phone.
Many people saw the
Central Park Boreal Owl
on the day it was found on the
Christmas Bird Count
by virtue of this informal communication
network. (Central Park was one of the 25 locations that constituted the
first CBC).
There's a sightings log that sits in a folder in the
cafe section of the
Loeb Boathouse on the east shore of the Lake.
There are also an expanding array of internet-based NYC bird sites,
which vary as to their degree of immediacy. My
eBirdsNYC group, which I took
over from Ben Cacace, is a good place to find sightings (common or rare)
within the greater NYC area. Lloyd Spitalnik's
Metro Birding Briefs is for
timely reporting of rarer birds. Mike Freeman's
nyc bird report summarises sightings in
more of a database approach. The New York City RBA is (regrettably) not often
communicated in electronic form, but you can call (212) 979-3070
to check the RBA by the more traditional telephone.
I've broken down my guide to birding Central Park into three sections: by location, by season and by species.
Other websites:
Central Park-related Websites (a few of many):
NYC bird sightings including Central Park:
Websites associated with birding in/around Central Park:
Comments etc to my email address.