City Hall Park Welcomed Hermit Thrushes and White-throated Sparrows During Late October Heat Wave

 

A migrating Hermit Thrush stopped to forage on the lawn near City Hall in Manhattan

Our apartment overlooks City Hall Park, and from inside I often hear Blue Jays and American Crows, which is a bit surprising considering the remarkable amount of noise from traffic, sirens, protestors, sidewalk performers and leaf blowers in the park. 

But there are quiet moments sometimes when the birds call out, and in recent years I have become more tuned in to their voices.    

Still, I don't usually take my camera and look for birds in City Hall Park because it is so busy, and now surrounded by fencing that doesn't allow for much roaming. 

Fenced off lawn and trees on the east side of City Hall

I do occasionally do some gardening activities there with the Friends of City Hall Park group though, and recently noticed some bird activity, so last week during the warm weather I decided to take a look. 

My neighborhood birding friend Sara advised me to focus on the southern section of the park, below City Hall. (She is very proud that she once spotted a rare Yellow-breasted Chat there.) 

Most of the migratory warblers had already passed by late October, so I wasn't hoping for anything too unusual. 

What I did find right away was a group of migrating Hermit Thrushes that had stopped over to get some food as they make their way further south in the US for the winter. 

Hermit Thrush on a chain near the Tweed Courthouse 

These are birds that breed in northern forests, where they are rarely seen (which is why they are called hermits) but are known for their hauntingly lovely songs. They weren't singing in the city, though, mostly just hunting for insects.  

They are smaller than the American Robins, which are also in the Thrush family, and are regular residents of City Hall Park. Some robins even stay around the city for the winter.

American Robins are cousins of Hermit Thrushes

I also noticed quite a few White-throated Sparrows, which arrive in the city in the fall after breeding further north, and then they stay here for the winter. 

A White-throated Sparrow hunting for insects on a tree branch

Besides insects, they also feed on seeds, fruits and berries during the winter. Native plants in the parks help provide them with food. 

This White-throated Sparrow investigated a Beauty Berry bush 

Of course there are also non-native European House Sparrows that  live in the park year-round. They were brought to New York in the mid-1800s and have thrived here - and all over the country actually.   

A House Sparrow perched on one of the decorative bird-topped posts in City Hall Park

The House Sparrows are about the same size as the White-throated Sparrows, but don't look the same up close.   

Male House Sparrow 

Male and female House Sparrows also look quite different from each other. Male House Sparrows have dark masks around their eyes, white-cheeks and dark patches on their chests. Female House Sparrows are lighter colored, and have gray cheeks, with light streaks above their eyes.

Female House Sparrow

Do look out for White-throated Sparrows in the parks during the winter, but look in the trees or on the lawns. They aren't likely to be mixing with the House Sparrows you see eating people food.  

 

An Unexpected Flaco Celebration

I finally met Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl that escaped from Manhattan’s Central Park Zoo in February and has since been living wild in the park’s north woods, to the delight of many New Yorkers. 

It felt a bit like meeting the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. His story has become mythical and inspirational, since he has survived successfully as a free bird after living in captivity for 12 years, almost his entire life. 

His escape was made possible when some unknown person made a hole in the steel mesh surrounding his small enclosure at the zoo. He evaded attempts by zoo staff to recapture him. They were afraid he would not be able to feed himself, but he quickly applied his instincts to capturing rats in the park. Now tourists and residents make pilgrimages to the north woods in search of Flaco. 

I wasn’t intending to look for him but was walking near there with a friend and she persuaded me to go look since I was so close. 

As I wandered into the area and was considering which way to go, a young woman approached me and asked ‘Have you seen Flaco?’ I thought she was a fellow seeker, but then she said ‘Look up, he is right over your head.’ And he was - though quite well camouflaged. 

While she was explaining where to look, several other people came by and before long we had formed a pop-up community of Flaco fans looking hopefully up into the tree, waiting for him to make a move. 

A passing bicyclist was playing the song ‘I Will Survive’ which led to cheering. 

He peered down at us and we felt blessed. 

I was glad to experience such an unexpected moment of community among strangers in the city - even though I am usually uncomfortable about the attention given to non-native celebrity birds. (Yes, I’m thinking about you, Mandarin Duck.)

October Birds on Governors Island

Great Blue Heron

I took the ferry from lower Manhattan over to Governors Island with my friend Sara. By the time she arrived at the ferry terminal, she had already spotted a Great Blue Heron sitting on the pilings over towards the Staten Island Ferry dock. Neither of us had seen one downtown before, so that was pretty exciting. 

After a less than 10-minute ferry ride out into New York Harbor, we got off on the 172-acre island, which was used for military defense of the city starting during the Revolutionary War and continuing more recently as a Coast Guard base until 1996. Now much of it is accessible as a public park. 

We headed over towards Fort Jay, which was built in 1794. It has high sandstone walls surrounded by a grassy moat, as well as an upland bushy area that birds like.  

Along the way there was a migrating Palm Warbler in one of the trees.

Palm Warbler

There were also some sparrows on the ground that turned out to be Savannah Sparrows. We haven't see those very often.

Savannah Sparrow

Along the way we saw several other types of sparrows as well, including Swamp Sparrows, Song Sparrows and a few others I wasn’t so sure about. 

Swamp Sparrow

Song Sparrow

 

An American Kestrel flew over and perched on an equipment tower next to the fort, a good place to scan for small birds for breakfast.   

American Kestrel

A couple of hungry Red-tailed Hawks also cruised over the meadow area. 

Red-tailed Hawk

And when we approached the high hill across from the Statue of Liberty, we saw a Cooper’s Hawk in the distance chasing little birds through the trees.

Cooper's Hawk soaring over New York Harbor

There were whole flocks of migrating birds in the air around the hill, occasionally setting down, including Northern Flickers, Blue Jays, Cedar Waxwings and smaller Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Northern Flicker

Blue Jay

    

A few members of the flock of Cedar Waxwings

Yellow-rumped Warbler

As we went back to the ferry, an Eastern Phoebe took a break from chasing insects to check us out, while a tiny, jumpy Golden-crowned Kinglet just went about its business. 

Eastern Phoebe

     

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

 

The view of lower Manhattan was fabulous. 

A Visit to the Lower East Side

Lower East Side Blue Jay 

On Sunday October 8, I went over to the Lower East Side for a community garden tour led by a long-time friend, Wendy Brawer. She is the founder of Green Map (greenmap.org), which promotes local ecology, wellbeing, climate justice and sustainability. 

The community gardens in this neighborhood were created by residents in the 1970s and 1980s who got together to transform vacant lots where buildings had been demolished and turn them into green spaces for positive activities and refuge. After much controversy, and eventual public action to preserve them, many of the gardens have survived and are now protected from development as recognized city parks. At this point, the neighborhood provides an important model for community-based urban agriculture, sustainability, comradery and resilience.  

We met up at La Plaza Cultural at 9th Street and Avenue C (laplazacultural.com), east of Tompkins Square Park, and entered a fun mini-forest complex, with a central gathering and performance area powered by solar panels. It is surrounded by rough paths through trees, garden patches and art installations, as well as composting and rooftop water runoff equipment. 

Solar installations, rainwater capture, medicinal plants, a fig tree, and a tiny fish pond  al La Plaza Cultural

An exhibit in the nearby Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space showed how the undeveloped space looked in the 1970s, in a photo taken by resident Marlis Momber.

La Plaza Cultural in the 1970s

I didn't know very much about this neighborhood before, and was inspired by the years of political activism, art, and cultivation behind the creation of the community gardens, as well as the hope for a future based on neighborhood collaboration, urban agriculture, and resilience to climate change.  

Lower East Side American Robin

A few blocks away at the El Sol Brilliante Garden on 12th Street, the birds were not real, but still lovely, embedded in the fence created by artist Julie Dermansky. 

At the Campos Community Garden down the block, a vibrant plastic flamingo presided over a lush plot of edible plants and a tree full of ripe figs. 

There were no red-tailed hawks visible when we passed through Tompkins Square Park, but there was a touching tribute to Dennis Edge, an East Village resident since 1970 who photographed the birds there. His book 'Tompkins Square Park Birds' documented 108 species, and was published in September 2023, just weeks before he passed away at 85. 

You can get a copy by sending a check for $59 made out "Birds of Tompkins Square Park LLC" and mail it to:

East Village Postal

151 1st Avenue Suite 24

New York, NY 10003 

(with your return mailing address) 

Fall Migration At The Battery

 

1. The north end of the park was hopping with warblers during the Wednesday morning bird walk with Gabriel Willow on September 27. The remains of the tropical storm Ophelia had drenched the city the weekend before, and that kept many birds, and birders, grounded. With fair weather the birds were able to continue their southward journey, and some stopped in lower Manhattan to eat and rest before moving on. 

The wood chip pile was especially active, with a lively mix of Prairie Warblers, Magnolia Warblers and American Redstarts. Probably there were a lot of insects hanging around in the damp chips. They are probably heading towards the Caribbean and South America.

Magnolia Warbler

Prairie Warbler 

 

American Redstart

Other migratory warblers were in the area too, including a Black-and-White Warbler, looking of insects on the London Plane trees, and a Common Yellowthroat working the bushes.   

                               

Black-and-White Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Up in the treetops, Gabriel spotted a new bird for me (and maybe the park) - a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Because of its size, quick movements and hazy high perch, I could only get a blurry photo of it, but enough to get the general idea of how it looks. Some of them breed in the northeast but then many go to Mexico or the Caribbean in the fall.      

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

A Ruby-throated Hummingbird peered down at us from a high branch. It was probably migrating also. Even though there are still many flowers in the park, soon the nectar sources will be gone, and the hummingbirds generally go south within the US for the winter.  

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

 

In the Labyrinth, we saw a lone, robin-sized, beady-eyed Brown Thrasher digging around for insects on the ground by some new plantings. A few might stay in northern areas for the winter, but others move somewhat further south.   

Brown Thrasher 

 

Further south in the park, a scruffy American Goldfinch was digging seeds out of one of the last of the cone flowers. Goldfinches molt in the fall as well as in the spring, when they get their bright yellow feathers. Some might stay nearby all year, but others move into the southern US or Mexico. 

 

American Goldfinch

2. After more rain on the following Saturday, I went back out early Sunday morning, October 1. I met up with several other Battery birders, and the park was again excitingly full of activity. I ended up staying for hours as the day became bright and sunny, and there were still more birds to see.

I thought there would be warblers again at the wood chip pile, but instead there was a new thrush  - Todd Olson identified it as a Gray-cheeked Thrush. They breed in Alaska and across northern Canada, then winter in Central and South America. So just passing through.  

Gray-cheeked Thrush

 

We also saw a Swainson’s Thrush nearby at the Labyrinth, which was more olive-greenish gray, with a ‘buff’ eye ring. They also head to the tropics for the winter.

Swainson's Thrush

 

There was a Hermit Thrush, too, which is smaller, browner and brighter, with a cinnamon-colored tail, and a white eye ring. Some of these might even stay around in the winter.  

Hermit Thrush

 

Another smaller but similar looking bird with a spotted breast was in the Labyrinth earlier. It is called a Northern Waterthrush, but it is actually a warbler. A summer resident.

Northern Waterthrush

 

Ovenbirds are warblers too, also with spotted breasts. They look a bit similar to the Northern Waterthrushes, and are about the same size. And both birds are often seen walking on the ground.  But the Ovenbirds have an orange crest on top rather than an eye stripe, and also a white eye ring.  

Ovenbird

 

Other migrants I saw in the grass were Palm Warblers. They are easy to recognize because they often pump their tails when they land. 

 

Palm Warbler

I was happy to see a bright male Black-throated Blue Warbler in the Labyrinth. I had missed getting a photo of one flitting in the bushes on Wednesday, but this one was standing boldly on the wood chips.   

Black-throated Blue Warbler

 

A bright, multicolored Northern Parula was examining the bushes, looking for insects. 

   

Northern Parula

As was a Blackpoll Warbler. During breeding season the males are striking in their black and white striped plumage (and black caps), but this time of year, as they migrate, they all look pretty subdued. Many of them travel a really long way, down to South America.

  

Blackpoll Warbler 

There were also a couple of warblers I don’t often see around here, on their way to the tropics.

A Tennessee Warbler was exploring the aster bushes. 

Tennessee Warbler

And the Nashville Warbler was in the grass at the Labyrinth along with the Palm Warblers. 

Nashville Warbler 

Those were a couple of wonderful birding days at The Battery. I’m hoping for a few more good days before migration season is over …we’ll see.