Central Park Birding
Central Park is an entirely manufactured urban oasis right in the middle
of Manhattan. Its location in the
middle of urban sprawl makes it an irresistable attraction for both the
populace of Manhattan and a remarkably diverse array of bird species. Perhaps
unexpectedly for a park in the middle of the USA's most populous city, Central
Park can attract up to 200 bird species per year.
This in turn attracts birders from NYC, other parts of the USA and other
countries.
The development of this series of pages was spurred by my perception of a gap between Central Park's importance as a birding destination and the amount of information online concerning birding the park. This guide is an attempt to address this deficiency. I've been birding the park at various levels of fanaticism since 1998, which makes me a neophyte compared to many of the park's veteran birders. But I've also spent a lot of time there in these last seven years including all too many mornings before work during spring and fall migrations - these pages are made out of my own personal experience and incorporating the information to be found in other online resources. I find Central Park's birding experience addictive, especially so on spring migrant "fallout" days. In many ways Central Park completed the resurrection of my interest in birding that I began as a child in Great Britain. Although I no longer live in Manhattan, I still spend a lot of my spare time there, and still birdwatch in Central Park many times per year - in fact more times there than in any other place during any given year.
Comments etc to my email address.