There is an American Woodcock who appears to be over wintering in Bryant Park.  Today it was just north of the Bryant Park Grill, in a small garden.  Nearby was a Song Sparrow.

Two wonderful birds, seen in December have stayed for the New Year in the north of Central Park.  An immature Red-Headed Woodpecker at 98th and the West Drive and a Green-Winged Teal, which was first seen on the Harlem Meer, rediscovered on the Reservoir on the Christmas Bird Count, and is now hanging out on the The Pool at 102nd Street.  It is nice they have stayed. 

They aren’t rare birds for the New York area, but they are infrequent visitors to Central Park.  So, it’s nice to be able to have more than just a brief look at them both.  The woodpecker continues to dig out cavities and cache acorns, while the teal, seems happy to hang out with the Mallards.

For about a week a Red-headed Woodpecker has been reported in Central Park.  I finally got a chance to see it on Saturday.  Like most of the Red-headed Woodpeckers we get in Manhattan, it is an immature bird, without a red head.  It has selected a stand of oak trees west of ball field number 2 in the North Meadow and east of light W9802.  (If you don’t know the “secret code” of the park street lights, this decodes as W=West Drive, 98=98th Street, 02=the second street light in the block.)

Red-headed Woodpeckers excavate cavities and then store nuts in them.  If this one behaves like ones we’ve had in previous years, it should be fun to watch this activity through the winter.

An Eastern Bluebird was seen in the West 80s of Central Park of Central Park on Friday (and again on Saturday).  It’s the state bird of New York.  This once-prolific bird had a sharp decline of population due to nesting cavity competition from European Starlings and House Sparrows.  Nest box programs started in the 1960s and 1970s have helped the species population numbers to improve but it remains an infrequent visitor to Central Park.

Fall brings a variety of ducks to Central Park.  Every year one or two Green-winged Teals are spotted.  One was the Meer for a few days this week.  It’s about 2/3 the size of a Mallard, so they’re easy to pick out in a raft of ducks.

A Purple Gallinule was found on the north shore of Turtle Pond in Central Park this morning and created quite a sensation among Manhattan’s birding community.  The juvenile bird worked the shoreline and gave birders great views from a short distance. The species is normally found in Florida and South Carolina, but is known to wonder, showing up on occasion in all the eastern states and many Canadian provinces.  The word gallinule comes from the Latin “gallina,” meaning small hen.