Nature in the City: it's for the birds

After class last Wednesday, I had lunch in Greeley Square. That's the little triangle between 32nd & 33rd Streets, and 6th Avenue and Broadway; there is a statue of Horace Greeley at the southern end (he was a contemporary of Emerson and Thoreau, and a very interesting guy; look him up if you're not familiar). The square underwent a thorough and successful overhaul a few years ago, turning it from a desolate, dirty, and dangerous concrete no-man's land into a clean, welcoming caesura in the bustle of midtown, with plantings and seating, and a little café stall.

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I was surprised at the bird life I found there. In addition to the expected cast of characters—Pigeons,House Sparrows, and

Starlings—there were a few other species not normally seen in the city except in larger wooded areas such as Central, Prospect, or Van Cortlandt Parks, or other more rural regions.

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There were a good number of White-Throated Sparrows, with their distinctive high-pitched thin voice and yellow dot behind the eye.

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More surprising, there were a lot of Gray Catbirds. This guy was sitting on the chair right next to me.

The White-Throats and the Catbirds were much bolder than those I have seen before, coming up to my feet to beg for crumbs along with the other more urbanized species. The Catbird is usually a solitary bird, and a bit wary of humans—not uncommon or hard to see, but hard to get close to—so finding over a dozen of them practically flocking together and perching nonchalantly on the chair next to me was quite unusual.

Then, just as I was getting over my surprise at the unusual number and behaviour of these, I saw a Rufous-Sided Towhee.

Bold patches of color and bright red eyes make him unmistakable. I haven't seen one in years. I'm not certain I've ever seen one in Manhattan, even in Central Park. Not that they are rare in the Northeast, but they are decidedly not urban creatures. Yet here he was, scratching around the bushes, even venturing onto the sidewalk and among the feet of the people sitting around the little café tables.

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A few more pictures of the birdies...

A catbird eating an apple core...

My urban Towhee...

And this is a favorite shot from that day. The catbird on top of the sign—"Please do not sit or place objects on the wall"—and below are a female House Sparrow, a male White-Throated Sparrow, and behind him, the Rufous-Sided Towhee. I call this one "The Rebels".

Thoreau talked about birds, and about deer and moose. He speculated that moose might become extinct in the future, and they are indeed becoming scarce. He might have been surprised had he known the extent of the ability of deer to adapt to the human encroachment on their lands, and how their numbers continue to grow. He might also have been surprised to see how some birds have become much better-adapted to the human-altered, urban landscape, and to see their new ways of competing and coexisting.

Another note regarding wild birds thriving in the urban environment: If you walk around Washington Square Park much, be sure to look up into the trees once in a while. A family of Red-Tailed Hawks nests on one of the NYU buildings, and parents and youngsters can be seen hunting or just hanging out in the park, sitting in the trees, or swooping across the street high overhead to perch on a window sill. They are not as well known or as heavily watched as the Red-Tails on Fifth Avenue, but they are around and I see them fairly frequently.