Englishman in New York (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

I am coming over to NY at the beginning of April. Whilst the wife is off shopping i thought i would take in some Central Park birding.

I have found this guy via Google, he runs trips on a Friday which will be perfect.

http://www.birdingbob.com

Anyone been out with Bob? and what could i expect to see

Thanks

Graham

Hello Graham,

I have crossed paths with Birding Bob, several times, but I have never joined his groups. He visits many of the major landmarks and a variety of mini habitats, throughout the Park.. He knows his stuff.
Unfortunately, the peak of the warbler season is at the end of May.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :hi:

Thanks Arthur, shame ablut the Warbler season, that would have been amazing!

tigglestiger said:

Thanks Arthur, shame ablut the Warbler season, that would have been amazing!

Click to expand...

Hello Tigglestiger,

There should be plenty of birds to be seen. Early spring has its own joys: phobes, peewees, etc.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :hi:

You should have a great time birding in Central Park! I just thought I would throw in another suggestion. If you have the time and can figure out the transportation issue, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is a great place to bird. If you think you might be interested in this venue click here.

Jamaica Bay is great. Get the subway to the Rockaways I think it is, then a bit of a walk, easy peasey! Central Park is great also, better that Castle Park in Colchester!

Thanks Larry & Jimibird, will have an investigation into Jamica Bay.

Jim - ha, hummingbirds and red tailed kites might turn up in Castle Park....one day ;@)

You have to goto Jamaica Bay. Get the A train from Manhattan and get off at Broad Channel. Walk about 1/2 mile N. Some birds I have seen there - Am.Bittern, Golden Plover, Woodcock, Willet, Avocet, lots of other waders, herons, duck, grebes etc etc.

Hi Tiggles,
Think you have Central Park well in hand, do note that the Am Museum Of Nat History runs birding walks there also, as does the Linnaean Society of NYC. Their websites give the details.
Jamaica Bay is very worthwhile but is a haul, the subway trip is an hour plus connection time, so it is really best viewed as a day trip. Do note there are ticks, an unpleasant reality here in the NYC area, so tuck in your pants and use DEET liberally.
If you stay on the paths, you should be ok, but bushwhacking will bring generous 8 legged rewards.
The best inventory of what is around at any particular time is here:
http://nycbirdreport.com/sites/1/highlights.html
a site by site compilation of the birds seen over the 04-08 interval. Ebird has more current data, but NYCbirdreport is my first choice.
Note also that the northern tip of Manhattan has Ft Tryon Park, often good for Bald Eagles and such, maybe visit the Cloisters while there along with the spouse, has spectacular medieval art collected by JPMorgan, the last of the robber barons.
Web sites such as http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebirdsnyc/ will keep you posted on the most recent sightings.
Pale Male and his high profile Red Tailed Hawk family at 927 5th Ave may be celebrating their latest arrivals by early April, so expect to see the usual watchers, their scopes and photos by the model boat pond.

Hello Tigglestiger,

I was in the Park, Sunday and crossed paths with Birding Bob, who was leading a group of about 18. It was on the shore of the Lake, near Oak Bridge, where he spotted a pair of wood ducks, a ruddy duck, and buffleheads, which I had already spotted. He used a recording of a female wood duck to attract the male, but none too successfully. After I said "hello," I moved away from his group, as seemed proper. I did manage to get a better view of the wood duck than his group. Of course, Bob does a whole tour of the Park, so his patrons probably did very well.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

Hello Tigglestiger,

I got this message from Bob:

The peak of warbler (and spring) migration is from about 20 April through 15 May...Phoebes are early migrants (right now), but Pewees are May birds...and nest in Central Park.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :hi:

Thanks Arthur, i have signed up to receive Bob's weekly updates, it looks like the recent weather has not been very kind in New York.

Fingers crossed it warms up and there are some early warbler's around for my visit on the 12 April.