Brooklyn's parks have much to offer locals, including walking trails and spaces for relaxation away from the hustle and bustle of the city. But that's not all, as many of the green spaces also attract diverse wildlife, including various bird species all year long.
Here's a list of 7 wildlife spots that Brooklynites can't get enough of.
1. Prospect Park
This 526-acre park in the middle of Brooklyn has so much to offer: grassy lawns, trails through woods, and the Audubon Center, which offers nature programs all year long. The park is great for bird-watching, especially around the lake and around the Ravine, Brooklyn's only forest.
2. Marine Park Salt Marsh
The Marine Park Salt Marsh Nature Center in Brooklyn's Marine Park is a vital ecological and educational hub dedicated to the preservation and exploration of the region's unique salt marsh habitat. Spanning over 530 acres, this area is one of the few remaining salt marshes in New York City, providing a crucial habitat for a diverse array of wildlife, including various bird species, fish, crabs and other marine life.
3. Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery, a resting place for many of Brooklyn's notable figures, is also home to small wildlife and especially birds, as the grounds are a stop-over habitat for over 185 species of migrating birds annually. Visitors have spotted eagles, hawks, orioles, warblers, owls, herons, and woodpeckers. There are also groundhogs that live there, as well as a group of green monk parrots that have made a home on top of the cemetery's 19th century Gothic arched entrance.
4. Bush Terminal Park
Bush Terminal Park in Sunset Park is a quiet, natural space in the industrial section of Sunset Park and is one of the newer coastal parks. It offers visitors spectacular views of Manhattan and tidal pools. Its natural habitats attract various bird species and other wildlife.
5. Calvert Vaux Park
The Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend offers visitors bird-watching opportunities in grasslands, marshes and shoreline habitats.
6. Floyd Bennett Field
Part of the federal Gateway National Recreation Area, Floyd Bennett Field was once a historic airfield that was converted into an area with sports fields and and athletic complex, as well as 1,300 acres of grassland, salt marshes, tidal mudflats and a marina. The habitats are great for spotting birds and other wildlife.
7. Shirley Chisholm State Park
This state park, named in honor of Shirley Chisholm, a Brooklyn-born trailblazer who was the first African American Congresswoman, as well as the first woman and African American to run for President, was a former landfill that was turned into a stunning 407-acre green space. It is now home to a slew of new wildlife, including rabbits, horse shoe crabs, sandpipers and a shorebird species called killdeer.
