Central Park Winter Bird Walk with Erika Piik and David Spawn, 3/9/2024

Registrar: Kathleen Matthews
Participants: 20
Weather: mid-40s, overcast, light wind that picked up later in the morning, precipitation held off until after 1 PM
Bird Species: 28

On an overcast day in early March, a large group met in Central Park to look for early migrants and assess which winter birds were still in the park. To accommodate the large number of attendees, we split into two groups and fanned out into Strawberry Fields, moved to Hernshead and Oak Bridge, and finally headed into the Ramble.

After we trekked to The Reservoir, we delighted in a large group of Northern Shovelers swimming in a large group and working together to stir up food. Another trip highlight was seeing both a Common Loon and a Red-throated Loon. By 1 pm, the rain started to come down in earnest, so we completed the walk and rushed to find shelter from the late winter storm.

Species Lists

Birds
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Northern Shoveler
Mallard
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
American Coot
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon

Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
European Starling
American Robin
House Sparrow
House Finch
White-throated Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Red-winged Blackbird
Northern Cardinal