Spring Migration Is Making NYC A Birder's Paradise

NEW YORK – Odd things are happening in the green spaces of New York City. In Bryant Park, strange-looking birds more commonly seen in rural wetlands are probing the ground with super-long bills. In Central Park, armies of people are roaming with binoculars, frantically whispering to passersby: "What are you seeing? Pine warblers?"

Spring migration is close to its peak in the city. Each day, new waves of birds are arriving from the south, returning to their summer stomping grounds or – more tantalizingly for hordes of birders hunting sightings - stopping off on their way further north or blown off course.

Believe it or not, New York City offers some of the best places in the world for bird watching. The Atlantic Flyway – a kind of highway taking migrating birds north from their southern winter homes – carries hundreds of thousands directly over the metropolis' huge mass of concrete and glass.

They're looking for a place to rest and, when they see a green spot nestled between the buildings, they flock to it.

Since its creation, 280 bird species have been seen in Central Park. The two-and-a-half-mile-long space is known as one of the nation's most impressive bird "traps" during the spring and fall.

"Some of these birds are moving hundreds of miles at a stretch," Tod Winston, a guide for NYC Audubon, said during a recent walk through the park.

"They're flying over New York, they're seeing these green oases and they're stopping. In April and May, it's crazy with birders in here."

Twitter feeds and special websites alert birdwatchers to what's being seen and where. Others actually map the migration – in early April one showed a huge concentration of warblers settled by Miami's South Beach, waiting for favorable weather conditions that would carry them north. When the winds are right, the birds – and the birders – appear in NYC in force.

Many of the birds are interesting only to the devoted: plain-looking birds that wouldn't catch the attention of the lay person.

But others are absolutely stunning.

"The neotropical migrants start arriving in late April and early May," said Winston. "Some of them – scarlet tanagers, Baltimore orioles – are actually quite common if you look for them.

"Then there are the less common: blackburnian warblers, cerulean warblers, golden-winged warblers. They bring the birders running.

"Then there are the vagrants. The birds that shouldn't really be here. There was a painted bunting a few years ago, a couch's kingbird another time. They can come up on storm fronts, hurricanes, blown off course.”

Here are some of New York City's best birding spots to head to this spring, identified by the NYC Audubon:

• Bronx: Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park
• Brooklyn: Prospect Park, Marine Park Salt Marsh Nature Center
• Manhattan: Central Park, Inwood Hill Park
• Queens: Forest Park, Jamaica Bay
• Staten Island: Clove Lakes Park, Great Kills Park (and the Staten Island Greenbelt)

NYC Audubon offers guided walks, trips and classes aimed at introducing people to birdwatching. Many are free. Find the list here. It also has a Birding by Subway brochure that gives information of how to get to the city's best birdwatching spots using public transport.