1620 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



BIRD LIEF, OE A BIG CITY 



Wild Birds of the New York Zoological 



Park and Immediate Vicinity 



By Lee S. Crandall 



CITY dwellers frequently are heard to be- 

 moan the scarcity of birds in the vicinity 

 of their homes. It is true that in the 

 more densely populated districts, bird life is 

 represented chiefly by house sparrows and star- 

 lings. But even in New York, as one approach- 

 es the suburbs, birds increase in variety and 

 numbers. Central Park, most urban of sanctu- 

 aries, is famous for the unusual birds which find 

 haven there, particularly during migrations. 



The Zoological Park, surrounded on three 

 sides by crowded apartment houses, retains 

 much of its pristine wildness and provides ex- 

 cellent sport for those who bunt with the field- 

 glass. The appended list names 158 species of 

 wild birds that have been identified within our 

 limits, or very close at hand. A number of 

 others doubtless are occasional visitors and may 

 at any time be added, but only those actually 

 observed have been included. 



Successful study of birds in the field depends 

 greatly on the season. Many birds which do 

 not nest in the Park pass through in spring and 

 autumn, going to or from their breeding 

 grounds. May is the harvest month of the bird 

 student. The spring migration then is at its 

 height and as the birds are in full song and 

 color, thev are more readily detected and iden- 

 tified. 



After the vernal host has pushed northward, 

 those species which elect to remain with us seek 

 nesting sites. During the process of building. 

 the characteristic songs often indicate the homes 

 of each pair. But after the eggs have been laid 

 and when the young have hatched, tlit parents 

 become more secretive and their presence may 

 be unknown to all but the most keen-eyed ob- 

 server. 



The return southward after the nesting sea- 

 son has ended is a more straggling affair, and 

 endures from mid-August until November. The 

 males of many species then have lost their nup- 

 tial plumage and their songs. Many young 

 birds, generally in the dull coats of youth, are 

 added to the throng. The autumn migration 

 has nothing of the care-free casualness of the 

 spring journey. In October, one comes on a 

 flock of warblers, that in spring might well rival 

 the butterflies in brilliancy of color and grace 

 of movement. Now. in their sombre plumage, 

 they are not easily detected, and only their flit- 

 ting forms and sibilant call-notes betray their 

 presence. They move rapidly from tree to tree. 



searching for insects as they go. with a grim 

 haste that is in sharp contrast to their easy- 

 going ways in the pleasant days of spring. 



After the last of these travellers has passed 

 southward on its romantic quest, we find the 

 shrubbery and stubble repopulated by flocks of 

 quietly-colored birds, even less obtrusive than 

 those they have supplanted. These are the 

 hardy winter residents, which have come from 

 their northern homes to pass the winter in a 

 climate only slightly less rigorous. It is they 

 that visit our feeding stations, depending on 

 our bounty to eke out the supply of weed seeds 

 and dormant insect life. Thus there is no sea- 

 son when birds are entirely absent, and the per- 

 severing observer can always find some reward 

 for his efforts. 



In the Zoological Park, we have a still fur- 

 ther supply of wild life. This consists of a 

 number of kinds of birds which although not 

 normally included in our fauna, we have suc- 

 cessfully colonized at liberty. These are the 

 mallard, black and wood duck, black-crowned 

 night heron. Barbary turtle dove and mourning 

 dove. Occasionally, one is treated to the sight 

 of a pair of Canada geese, honking as they pass 

 overhead in superb flight. All of these species 

 are now well established and have become per- 

 manent additions to our bird life. 



Wild Birds of the New York Zoological 

 Park and Immediate Vicinity. 

 Pied-billed Grebe (occasional transient visitor). 

 Herring C I nil (winter resident). 

 Mallard Duck (permanent resident; breeds). 

 Black Duck (permanent resident; may breed). 

 Baldpate (occasional transient visitor). 

 Green-winged Teal (occasional transient visitor). 

 Blue-winged Teal (occasional transient visitor). 

 Shoveller (occasional transient visitor). 

 Pintail (occasional transient visitor). 

 Wood Duck (permanent resident: breeds). 

 Vmerican Bittern (transient visitor). 

 Great Blue Herein (rare transient visitor). 

 American Egret (rare transient visitor: one record). 

 Green Heron (summer resident; breeds). 

 Black-crowned Night Heron (permanent resident; 



breeds ). 

 Virginia Kail (transient visitor). 

 Sora Kail (transient visitor). 

 American ('".it (transient visitor). 

 American Woodcock (transient visitor). 

 Least Sandpiper (transient visitor). 

 Semipalmated Sandpiper (transient visitor). 

 Greater Yellow-legs (transient visitor). 

 Yellow-legs (transient visitor). 

 Solitary Sandpiper (transient visitor). 

 Spotted Sandpiper (summer resident; breeds). 

 Killdeer (transient visitor). 

 Bobwhite (permanent resident: breeds). 

 Ring-neck Pheasant (permanent resident; breeds). 

 Mourning Dove (permanent resident; breeds). 

 Turkey Vulture (occasional summer visitor). 

 .Marsh Hawk (summer resident; may breed). 

 Cooper Hawk (summer resident: may breed). 



