When and Where to go birding on Staten Island |
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Year round Staten Island provides the dedicated birder with wonderful experiences. Click on the links below to learn where is the best place to visit, and when. By: Cliff Hagen |
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Where to go Birding in Winter
December
When the north winds blow the first snows of December upon Staten Island the
last of our wandering migrants arrive. Irruptive species of finches from Canada,
Arctic owls and gulls from across the Atlantic find our relatively warm, winter
climate hospitable. Along our beaches and on our ponds European gulls settle
in for long, winter nights. During December you can find Iceland and Glaucous
Gulls, Lesser Black Backed and Black-headed Gulls in Wolfe’s
Pond, Clove Lake Park and Great
Kills for as long as the water remains open. When the lakes and ponds freeze
over move with the gulls to the jetties along South
Beach, Midland Beach and Miller Field Beach.
While you’re gawking at gulls search the dunes, grasses and evergreens
for finches and owls that arrive without invitation and leave without giving
notice. Luck and perseverance may bring you a Crossbill or Redpoll, a Snowy
Owl or Longspur, a Short-eared or Long-eared Owl.
January - February
Living on an island we have the advantage of fresh and saltwater habitats for
adding species to our winter birding lists. A bright, sun-soaked day in January
or February could bring twenty or more species of waterfowl to an ardent birder
on Staten Island. A collection of tidal creeks, fresh, open water and calm bays
and harbors make Staten Island an ideal location for wintering ducks. Diving
ducks such as Goldeneye and Mergansers, Bufflehead and Scaup pepper our saltwater
shoreline at Great Kills Park, Fort
Wadsworth, South and Midland Beaches, and Conference House Park. While Wigeons and Teals,
Pintails and Ring-necked Duck with Ruddy Ducks and Hooded Mergansers and Wood
Ducks dabble upon the lakes, and ponds at Wolfe's
Pond Park and Clove Lakes Park. Sprinkled
among the ducks are thousands of Canada Geese and Brant, Loons, Grebes and Swans.
This is also the time of year to be visiting some of the inland parks in search
of rare visitors from the north. By the end of February spring migrants like
woodcocks and blackbirds start showing arriving.
Birding in Spring
March
When our calendars page forward into March the Spring migration begins. Our
first migrants, American Woodcock, can be heard razzing the sun as it rises
and sets over the fields of Mount
Loretto, Great Kills Park and the South Beach Wetlands.
The days of March also witness the flight of the Blackbirds, a gathering of
mixed flocks created by Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles, Brown-headed
Cowbirds And Rusty Blackbirds hoarding together in a chattering frenzy. The
flocks amass in Willowbrook Park and the Teleport Woods. By the end of the month
pine and palm warbler are starting to show at Clove
Lakes Park, and Blue Heron Park.
April
Early arrivals begin territorial displays when the morning sunshine of April
fools them into courtship and nest building. All the while, a neo-tropical choir
of color and grace push northward. Acrobatic swallows ply the sky while wrens
and warblers sing from budding branches. The best bet for birding on the north
shore is found in Clove Lakes Park where a collection
of two-dozen species of wood warblers can be spotted flitting about the treetops
and under story. Good birding is also available at Conference
House Park and Wolfe’s Pond Park on
the south shore. Both parks have the added attraction afforded the open waters
of the Raritan Bay.
May
The crescendo of Spring birding peaks the second week of May with a cacophony
of birdsong sounding round the clock in every park on Staten Island. Even the
secluded marshes on the north shore broadcast the symphony of Nature as Swamp
Sparrows and Marsh Wrens, Rails, Soras and Bitterns harmonize with passing traffic
along the West Shore Expressway and the Goethel’s Bridge through all hours
of the night. Land bird migration is peeking in all of the island's park. The
best places to find those denizens of the northern woods passing through the
island are Clove Lakes Park, Conference
House Park, Blue Heron Park, and Great
Kills Park.
Birding in Summer
June
The songs of the Spring Sing, as if to benefit birders, subside during the first
week of June. The summer hush begins just in time to make available the particular
calls of our latest arrivals – flycatchers. With nearly a dozen species
of flycatchers hawking insects on Staten Island each June, and since many flycatchers
are visually indistinguishable, it is imperative to hear their markedly different
calls for proper identification. The woodlands of High Rock Park harbor Pewees
and Yellow-bellies while the old growth trees in Blue
Heron Park are a great place to find both Alder and Acadian Flycatchers.
A walk out to Crooke’s Point will yield
a dozen calling Willows and possibly a Least Flycatcher, while Kingbirds and
Great Crested Flycatchers frequent every green-space from the Clove
Lakes Park to Conference House Park.
July
Each July approximately one hundred species of birds find the bushes and boughs
of Staten Island a hospitable place to build nests and raise young. In back
yards and schoolyards, near parking lots and burial plots, throughout the Greenbelt
and Bluebelt birds of all shapes and sizes take advantage of the variety of
habitats Staten Island has to offer. Robins and Cardinals, Titmice and Towhees,
Rails, Sparrows and Owls fledge broods in every neighborhood of our borough
from March to September with July being the most productive month. And if you
choose to brave the heat and humidity of July to go birding be considerate of
the fledglings for their early lives are a precarious ballet between life and
death.
August
Through August our beaches are swept by waves of thousands of long-legged, fast-running,
small, agile birds that come in varying shades of bronze, brown and white. Shorebirds,
plain to see on sand spits and mudflats, are difficult to identify. With some
practice and patience one can learn telltale behaviors and slight differences
in color and size that make a day of birding at the beach quite enjoyable. Least,
Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers, Black-bellied and Semi-palmated Plovers along
with Yellowlegs, Red Knots and Turnstones run about excitedly with Sanderling,
Dunlin, Willets and Killdeer. The sands at Ward’s
Point, Crooke’s Point and
Oakwood Beach are spots for viewing shorebirds. The mudflats at Great
Kills Park and Goethel’s Bridge Pond are vital stopovers for shorebirds
as well.
Where to visit in Fall
September
With the summer breeding complete, and the Fall migration underway, September
is a month full of opportunities for great birding. In particular, the waders
that find their way to Staten Island put on a show worthy of the time and energy
required to seek out the performance. Our multi-colored waders include Great
and Little Blue Herons, Green and Tri-colored Herons, Black-Crown and Yellow-Crown
Night Herons. Other waders to identify are the Great, Snowy and Cattle Egrets
as well as the Glossy Ibis. These slender-legged birds are frequent quests on
the mudflats of Great Kills Park and Goethel’s Bridge Pond. And since the satellite islands around our
borough are home to prolific heronries watch for waders coming and going from
Prall’s Island and Shooter’s Island, from Hoffmann and Swinborne
Islands and from the Isle of Meadows in Fresh Kill. For lands birds, visiting
any of the island parks can offer great rewards. Early this month is the time
of Conneticut warblers, and black terns.
October
When autumn arrives and the leaves start to fall the hawks, falcons, Ospreys
and eagles pass overhead and one has only to look up to witness the migration.
In any parking lot, on any roadway, at any storefront just look up and watch.
Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks, Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks
flap, kite and drift along. Kestrels and Merlins, Peregrine Falcons and Northern
Harriers chase the north winds south. And gliding above them all; soaring proud,
Bald Eagles and Ospreys. The best places to see the busy air-traffic is atop
Moses Mountain in the Greenbelt, on the bridge in Silver Lake Park, the weir
on Spring Pond in Blue Heron Park or at Ward’s Point. Each
location offers wide views of an open sky from a geographically advantageous
spot. This is a great time of year to visit Mount
Loretto for the chance of eastern bluebirds, or even a rarity like a western
kingbird.
November
The last blooms of autumn have fallen from grace by time November drops leaves
and seeds from her bushes, trees and grasses. And kicking among the leaf-litter
gleaning kernel from chaff are the sparrows, a dozen different species from
the north that ride out the progression of frost to flurries to deep freeze
and blizzards each winter on Staten Island. The woodland sparrows, White-throated
Sparrows and Dark-eyed Junco, are found in every neighborhood on Staten Island.
American Tree Sparrows are in the open grasses of Great
Kills Park, Mount Loretto and South Beach as are Song and
Savannah Sparrows. Less common sparrows, the Field, Swamp and White-crowned
show themselves each November where as the Vesper and Lincoln Sparrows are less
often identified. Lastly, a walk in Blue
Heron Park or Conference House
Park will yield a Fox Sparrow, a bright, chubby friend who brings warmth
to a cold, gray November day. Eastern bluebirds become more common at locations
like Mount Loretto, Conference
House Park, and Clove Lakes
Park.