Like many people, we traveled to spend time with family for the Thanksgiving holiday. In our case, the travel was a car ride to New York City to be with our son and his girlfriend. We were among millions who visit the millions in Manhattan this time of year, many for the famous parade and holiday kickoff events and shopping, in addition to being with family.

We don’t love the traffic but after we get the car parked and out of mind until departure, we love the hustle and bustle on the streets, contrasted with the coziness of being together in a small apartment. The subway ride to Chelsea Market to pick up a smoked turkey at Dickson’s Farm Stand was followed by pizza at Mama’s TOO! (we especially recommend the poached pear and the Cacio e Pepe) on Bleecker Street, then the walk back from the subway passing in front of Macy’s in all of it’s holiday hype. All super fun but made even better by the opportunity to drink hot coffee and tea in the quiet oasis of our son’s apartment that was home base when we got back.

Our visit to his apartment isn’t complete, though, without some time spent enjoying the view of the city from the rooftop nook of his apartment building. No matter the time of year, it’s always relaxing too look out over the city while listening and watching for birds.

We’re always amazed at how many birds we find within the artificial canyons formed by the tall buildings of Manhattan. One day we were up on the roof top (ten stories up) in the late afternoon and the view was especially incredible, with the Chrysler Building with its large eagle (some say gargoyle) ornaments just blocks away glinting in the sun. In another direction, there was the classic spire of the Empire State Building rising into the blue sky from the limestone clad exterior. A myriad of other colors, shapes, sizes, and styles of buildings stretched in all directions far into the distance.  

There weren’t many birds around at first, and the noises of the city were everywhere—sirens, car horns, screeching brakes, revving engines, exhaust fans. Then a small flock of pigeons flew up, circled once, and rocketed away. A single crow landed on top of a tall building some distance away and sat there scanning its kingdom. Three herring gulls, so high in the sky they looked tiny, glided overhead in the wind.

Then we heard a familiar “tup, tup” call echoing around the buildings—an American robin! It kept calling, through all the city sounds, and we finally tracked it down: There it was on the wall edge of a patio on a nearby brick building, five stories higher than us. The patio had some potted shrubs with very red leaves—was the robin attracted to them with hopes there were some berries on them? Hard to say, but that robin remained there until we left, even staying when the apartment owner stepped out on the patio with her little dog.

The next day, we went for lunch to a rustic Italian eatery on Cornelia Street in the West Village. The meal was excellent, and on departing we saw a stream of people getting photos in front of what we learned was Taylor Swift’s old apartment. We strolled over to New York University’s Law School, across from Washington Square Park, and there, hopping around amidst the landscaped greenery in the little courtyard, were some familiar birds: white-throated sparrows, occasionally giving their high-pitched “seep” call notes just like they do in our backyard home in Maine.

A peek at eBird shows that birders found lots of white-throated sparrows in New York City during November and not just in the biggest green space of Central Park but in just about every little nook-and-cranny park or green space in the city.  Right in Washington Square Park, there were dozens counted just days before we saw a handful of them across the street at the entrance to the university building. There must be thousands of white-throated sparrows in New York City at this time of year, many having migrated south from where they nest across the Boreal Forest of Canada and the northeastern U.S. including Maine. And although probably not as abundant and widespread as white-throated sparrows, there are lots of American robins in New York now. too.

Another benefit of looking through November eBird records for these two bird species in Manhattan is that we discovered a number of friends and acquaintances that have been reporting them from the area in the last few weeks, including at least one person who birds regularly right here in Maine! Maine birds and Maine birders, all in New York City for the holidays!

Jeffrey V. Wells, Ph.D., is a Fellow of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Vice President of Boreal Conservation for National Audubon. Dr. Wells is one of the nation's leading bird experts and conservation biologists. He is a coauthor of the seminal “Birds of Maine” book and author of the “Birder’s Conservation Handbook.” His grandfather, the late John Chase, was a columnist for the Boothbay Register for many years. Allison Childs Wells, formerly of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a senior director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, a nonprofit membership organization working statewide to protect the nature of Maine. Both are widely published natural history writers and are the authors of the popular books, “Maine’s Favorite Birds” (Down East Books) and “Birds of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao: A Site and Field Guide,” (Cornell University Press).