Battery Park

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General Information

Maps

Locations Within the Park

The area of Battery Park has been extensively modified with landfill and no longer follows the contour of the island. At the tip of the new coastline of Manhattan Battery Park looks over New York Harbor and onto the Statue of Liberty. Tours of this location and of Ellis Island run from one of the piers in Battery Park. Connected to Battery Park are another series of thin parks that run up the west side of the island alongside Battery Park City.

  • Battery Park - at the southern tip of the Island this is classical parkland - lawns and some deciduous trees of modest height and a few plantings. There is minimal understory. The park is bounded on one side by the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, and on the other sides by the Financial District. It abuts Robert F. Wagner Jr Park to the north-west. A map of the park is here. The park is rather modest in dimensions and has some open waterfront to the south.
  • There are a series of small parks connecting the southernmost Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park near Battery Park to the northernmost Nelson A. Rockefeller Park roughly level with Chambers Street. The Battery Park City Parks map gives you the approximate layout, covering the extreme southern section of the west side of Manhattan.


R.F. Wagner Park was the site where Ben Cacace found a Calliope Hummingbird in November 2002, dragging many birders down to an area that doesn't see a lot of coverage. It's a small park with some open lawn and some cover in deep concrete planters, and a few small trees along the edge of the park near the road. There is a walkway connecting this park to the others and leading north. This walkway is narrow in places and sometimes with some trees covering it and a little ground cover at the edges - the best locations along here are a little north of Wagner Park and up in Nelson Rockefeller Park. There is minimal open water in these parks (other than the large expanse of the Hudson to the immediate west. The other side of the walkway is the Hudson River and overlooks Jersey City. From the southernmost parks the area overlooks Liberty State Park which is a sometimes productive area in NJ. There are two small coves along the walkway - South Cove and North Cove - the latter being occupied by a marina.

Best Locations for Birding

Lack of ground cover, ample human visitation, and the small dimensions of the parks have limited the attraction of these parks to birds and birders alike. Nevertheless things are prone to surprise us. Battery Park does lie at the southern tip of Manhattan and therefore has potential as a modest migrant trap. Staten Island and NJ are visible across the water but tired migrants may elect to stop here instead of flying over New York Harbor.

There have been reports of Wild Turkey and Brant feeding in Battery Park amongst the tourists. I have seen both. There are flocks of Brant (or perhaps one flock) along the East River at least as far up as Roosevelt Island and also at Brooklyn Bridge, so perhaps this is a roving opportunistic flock - it is not clear if this is an annual event. Heaven only knows where the Wild Turkey came from, although Liberty State Park is the best bet (I've seen Ring-necked Pheasants there).

There's also been at least two vagrant hummingbirds at Robert F. Wagner Park despite the lack of significant habitat. The Calliope Hummingbird was discovered by Ben Cacace in November 2002, while he was killing time while on jury duty downtown. The first state record for Calliope Hummingbird was only the previous year at Fort Tryon Park in northern Manhattan, so this discovery was epic. During the ensuing coverage, an immature Selasphorus species hummingbird (probably immature male Rufous) made a stopover at this park during the same November, raising the possibility that several birds are being overlooked here.

I have also spent a very small amount of time birding in this vicinity in fall and come up with one or two of the commoner migrant warblers: Black-throated Green and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a Northern Flicker. There were also White-throated Sparrows in the ground cover. Because of the limited habitat here, numbers will be small, but this limited personal survey suggests that some birds are to be found.

Seasons

There are very, very few reports from the Battery Park City area so we know little about the seasonal variation in bird species. It seems likely that there are small numbers of the commoner migrants, and the location of the parks would tend to favor it as a fall migrant trap rather than a spring one. Winter reports of Brant and Wild Turkey would suggest some opportunity for unusual visitors to the area. White-throated Sparrows are probably to be found around these parks in much the same way they can be found in most parks in the city.

One of the species that we do know the most about are the Peregrine Falcons at 55 Water Street which have their own web page and even a web cam ! Peregrine Falcons are a resurgent species after near extinction in the eastern USA, and their colonization of NYC has been greatly assisted by enlightened organizations like 55 Water Street that go out of their way to protect them rather than treat them as pests.


Directions

Street parking is not Battery Park City's strong point, nevertheless there are some parking garages. From Manhattan both the West Side Highway and FDR drive essentially terminate at Battery Park City but you'll want to make sure you avoid going from one to the other. Look for West Street. From the Holland Tunnel you can follow signs at the tunnel exit for West Street and downtown, or just head to the West Side Highway and head south for a few blocks.

There are a variety of subway lines nearby, although as of Feb 2007 there's quite a bit of construction in the general vicinity. The 1, 2, 3 and A, C all go to Chamber's Street, which is at the northern end of the parks that line the west side of the island. Just walk west and find a pedestrian crossing that traverses the West Side Highway. The 4, 5 lines also go to Bowling Green, or you can take the 6 to Brooklyn Bridge and walk a little further. Best check the MTA site for any weekend construction.

Expected Species

There are so few reports from Battery Park City that constructing any sort of list is pointless. My own records include:

Wild Turkey Battery Park, Nov 2004
Brant Battery Park, unknown date
Laughing Gull Battery Park, Nov 2004
Calliope Hummingbird Wagner Park, Nov 2002
Selasphorus genus Hummingbird Wagner Park, Nov 2002
Northern Flicker Oct 2003
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Oct 2003
Black-throated Green Warbler Oct 2003
Yellow-rumped Warbler Oct 2003
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow Wagner Park, Oct 2003
Dark-eyed Junco Battery Park, Nov 2004
American Goldfinch Battery Park, Nov 2004
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