There are plenty of eggcellent birding spots throughout Brooklyn. Heather Wolf, author of “Birding at the Bridge: In Search of Every Bird on the Brooklyn Waterfront” recommended some of the borough’s best locations — other than Brooklyn Bridge Park — for spotting our feathered friends.
Prospect Park
The most popular birding spot in Brooklyn is Prospect Park — and for good reason! The park’s 585 acres are home to many of the same species that flock to Brooklyn Bridge Park, but in larger numbers, said Wolf. The Prospect Park Lake in the southwest corner, with its Duck Island, is perfect for avians who love fresh water, she said. The lake may have attracted one of the most rare birds that Wolf has ever spotted in the Park.
“A painted bunting, which was an extreme rarity,” said Wolf. “It was in Prospect Park for two months, which I’ve never seen in Brooklyn Bridge Park. It likes the fresh water.”
Prospect Park Lake (enter at Park Circle between Prospect Park Southwest and Parkside Avenue in Windsor Terrace, www.prosp
Green-Wood Cemetery
This peaceful cemetery in Greenwood Heights, just a few minutes from Prospect Park as the crow flies, is home to a colony of monk parakeets, who nest in the entryway.
The small, bright-green parrots have created a breeding population there and can regularly be seen flying around, said Wolf.
“It’s a reliable place to see them,” she said.
In the late winter, the cemetery is a reliable spot to find the American woodcock, said Wolf.
“Green-Wood has a lot of great habitats for them,” she said.
Green-Wood Cemetery entrance [500 25th St. at Fifth Avenue in Greenwood Heights, (718) 210–3080, www.green
Plumb Beach
Head down south to Plumb Beach, where land meets the north shore of the Rockaway Inlet — perfect for some shore bird sightings and other wild species, said Wolf.
“It’s a good place for birds, a lot of rarities have been showing up there,” she said. “For ducks in the winter that’s a great spot as well.”
Wolf once spotted a rare northern wheatear in Plumb Beach after an eBird alert — an online checklist for bird observations — told her to hustle down to the seaside spot.
Plumb Beach, off Exit Nine on the Belt Parkway in Gerritsen Beach.
