New York Times reporter Erik Eckholm, writes on his experience going bird watching in Central Park. He became a bird-watcher, or at least a fledgling one, in a very New York way. Five or six years ago, apartment-bound by a snowstorm and hoping to fill in a sparse social calendar, he was browsing the New-York Historical Society’s lecture schedule when an oddball entry caught his eye: a guided spring-migration bird walk in Central Park.
He reports that on the assigned Saturday morning in early May, he showed up at the entrance to the historical society on Central Park West carrying an embarrassing little pair of opera glasses. Their group of 15 headed into the Ramble, a famous avian hot spot in the park. After that first outing he went and bought a decent pair of binoculars for $250 and has been birding ever since.
He likens birding to yoga or meditation. Still, he now gets all twitchy and impatient every March and April, a common tendency of the New York City birder. Over the last week, as a cold snap eased, reports of incoming warblers began to pick up, quickening the pulses of city birders. By June, the visual feast will be mostly finished, as visiting species move north for breeding.
To read the article in its entirety, click here. To learn more about birding in Central Park, visit our website centralpark.com.