Spring Migration 2025
Magnolia Warbler by Lucas Urbe
Get ready! In the next two months, from April to May, the park will be abloom, a buzz and full of the chips, trills and songs of over 35 different bird species that migrate through our park, like the Magnolia Warbler (pictured above), and also the birds that come here to nest in the spring. In this post, we’ll tell you how to get the most out of spring birding in the park, even if you’ve never caught sight of an exotic colorful warbler before.
Horned Lark by Doug Greenberg
Eastern Bluebird by Mark Moschell
But first, great news! We are now up to 163 species of bird spotted in the park. That’s a jump from 155 last spring. The newbies include an Eastern Bluebird, a flock of 44 Snow Geese and 5 Horned Larks. Ryan Serio is our top bird spotter on ebird.org (a global database). He visits the park at dawn, which means he is often able to catch huge flocks of birds landing in the park, or migrating overhead along the East River.
SPRING MIGRATION
Hooded Warbler by Lucas Urbe
The great thing about birding in spring is you don’t need binoculars or any skill whatsoever. In spring the birds are singing to try to attract a mate and defend their nesting territory, so the easiest way to find out what’s hiding in the park is to download the free Merlin Bird ID App (see link below) to your cellphone and stand near one of the park’s oak trees (which are full of insects) and press the ‘Sound ID’ button. This identifies each bird as it sings (even the tiniest chip note) with a graphic of the bird and a musical scroll as it registers its trills, tweets and chips.
MARCH/APRIL
Pine Warbler by Lucas Urbe
Two of the first songbirds to arrive in the spring, around late March/early April, are the Palm Warbler and the Pine Warbler (named for its fondness for pine trees). A Pine Warbler was spotted in the city as early as February this year. Of course, this one may be an anomaly, as sometimes a songbird will overwinter here.
Orange-crowned Warbler by @BirdCentralPark on X
In Carl Schurz Park we have a famous Orange-crowned Warbler that ought to over winter in Belize or Mexico, but seems to prefer our park. For the last few years, it has appeared in November to feast on the suet feeders and roost in the shrubs around Gracie Mansion and then departs in early March. Where? No-one knows.
Eastern Phoebe by Gig Palileo
One of the tiniest arrivals in late March is the Eastern Phoebe. It is a flycatcher that eats wasps, beetles, moths and midges. It gets its name from its sharp FEE-bee cry. It overwinters in Florida and comes north to breed.
Red-bellied Woodpecker by Lucas Urbe
Many woodpeckers live in the park for most of the year like this beautiful Red-bellied Woodpecker (above), but the largest woodpecker, the Northern Flicker (below), arrives in the spring for a brief period. It stands around 12 inches tall and is easy to spot because of its spotty belly, red nape and beautiful yellow underwings.
Northern Flicker by Lucas Urbe
Eastern Towhee by Lucas Urbe
House Sparrows live here year-round, but American Sparrows migrate in and out of the park. The first arrivals in early April include the striking Eastern Towhee. While most American Sparrows are slim and appear camouflaged in shades of cocoa, black and cream, the Eastern Towhee is a puffed-up larger bird, measuring up to 8 inches tall with a sooty black head and bright white and red chest. It likes to hop in the shrubbery searching for millipedes, centipedes and other insects.
Grey Catbird by Lucas Urbe
Nesting activity begins in earnest in April, especially for the incoming birds that will stay through to the summer months. Grey Catbirds lay teal-colored eggs in nests that are sometimes buried deep inside the shrubs along the East River Esplanade.
Osprey by Lucas Urbe
On nearby Mill Rock, several Osprey, huge raptors with 4-6 feet wingspans, (which have been spotted flying over our park), create one of the biggest birds nests. ‘It’s vehicle size,’ says Robyn Bailey of NestWatch.org. They reuse the same nest year after year and the nest can grow to be up to 10 feet deep and 6 feet in diameter, with an outer wall of branches, lined with moss, bark, grass and other vegetation.
Red-tailed Hawk’s nest on Randall’s Island by @BirdCentralPark on X
Red-tailed Hawks are year-round visitors to our park, hunting for rodents and pigeons. While we’ve yet to find a pair nesting here, Robyn Bailey of Nestwatch thinks it is quite likely that ‘our’ hawks are nesting on Randall’s Island. This year, a particularly opportunistic pair chose a high up window at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center.
MAY
Peak Migration
Rose-breasted Grosbeak by Lucas Urbe
The six weeks from the end of April through May are considered peak migration season, when millions upon millions of migrating birds travel up the Atlantic flyway that crosses right over our park. The birds travel at night and drop down into the city parks to feed and rest for a day or more before traveling on to their nesting grounds (see the link below for birdcast.info to find out how many birds and what species arrived overnight).
Here are some of the beauties that visit our park during this period.
Baltimore Oriole by Lucas Urbe
Female American Redstart by Lucas Urbe
Cape May Warbler by Lucas Urbe
The best place to see these colorful migrants is the trees on the north end of the park, especially around the Peter Pan Statue; the two oaks near the 87th Street entrance bathrooms, and the oaks along the berm facing Gracie Mansion (between the 88th and 89th Street entrances). "Look for flowering oak trees," says naturalist Gabriel Willow. "The flower clusters are called catkins. These and fresh budding leaves attract caterpillars which in turn attract the birds."
Ruby-throated Hummingbird by Lucas Urbe
Black-throated Blue Warbler by Lucas Urbe
Blackpoll Warbler by Ana and Victor
The arrival of Blackpoll Warblers in the city signals the end of our migration season. This half-ounce, 5 inch long, songbird holds the record for the longest overwater flight of all songbirds. It can fly non-stop for three days. These little creatures come up from Puerto Rico and Northern South America en route to their nesting grounds on the coastal islands of Maine and the Borreal Forests of Canada.
Words: Lucie Young
Images:
Lucas Urbe, Gig Palileo, Doug Greenberg, Mark Moschell, Ana and Victor, and @BirdCentralPark on X
Links:
Merlin Bird ID App https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org
Birdcast.info is an extraordinary site offering a daily bird migration tracker for our area. If you put in 'New York County’, you can find out which days have the largest number of bird arrivals, a video graphic each night showing how the birds moved across the country, and a live count of the number and species of birds that are flying into our area each day.
Ebird.org is a free website, created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where you can explore and submit bird sightings for birding global hot spots such as Carl Schurz Park
https://nestwatch.org is another great Cornell Lab of Ornithology resource on the nesting habits of our NE coast birds
Check out our previous edition of What's in Flight