Here's The Latest Rare Bird Turning Heads On The Upper East Side

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Months after a snowy owl brought throngs of people to Central Park, desperate for a peek at the rare bird, two more unusual visitors have attracted crowds this week.

A cerulean warbler — a small, blue songbird seldom seen in the city — was spotted around 8 a.m. Sunday near the park's Group of Bears sculpture at East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue, just north of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The sighting was quickly reported to David Barrett, a birder who runs the popular Manhattan Bird Alert Twitter account. Not long after, Barrett got a second report about a cerulean warbler in a different spot: the Central Park weather station in The Ramble, just south of Belvedere Castle.

"At the time there was a question: was there one, or was there two?" Barrett said.

The loquacious bird on the southeast side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art made it a two CERULEAN WARBLER day in Central Park. pic.twitter.com/4WJg0NY97J
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) May 2, 2021

As he rushed to The Ramble to look for the latter bird, another spotter confirmed that the first warbler remained on Fifth Avenue — marking a surprising dual appearance. (Barrett last confirmed two ceruleans in Central Park in May 2019.)

These warblers were likely on their way north from South or Central America, where they spend winters in the mountains of Colombia, Venezuela and Belize before migrating each spring to their breeding grounds in the Eastern U.S.

The cerulean warbler is considered threatened due to the loss of forests in its wintering territory, with its population declining by about 70 percent in the past 40 years, according to the American Bird Conservancy.

The CERULEAN WARBLER male seen earlier around the Central Park Ramble Weather Station, south of Belvedere Castle. pic.twitter.com/RMFUY4buIL
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) May 2, 2021

Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the blue birds may not be in luck: after a flurry of activity Sunday, neither cerulean warbler has been spotted since, signaling that they likely flew north Sunday night to prepare to breed.

Still, Barrett said, there's ample reason to visit Central Park for serious and amateur birders alike. Other warblers recently spotted in the park's forested areas include yellowish hooded warblers, Cape May warblers, a rare yellow-throated warbler and ovenbird warblers, which are easiest to spot since they forage on the ground.

"There’s surely 15 to 20 warbler species around today," Barrett said Tuesday.

The rare YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER at Hernshead on the Central Park Lake's west shore. pic.twitter.com/jCzVUvb5FK
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) May 1, 2021

The list of recent sightings goes on: evening grosbeaks, ruby-throated hummingbirds, white-eyed vireos and a black-billed cuckoo.

Other head-turning species hanging out in Manhattan in recent months have included a western tanager, a greater white-fronted goose, and a barred and great horned owl — both of which remain in Central Park.

The snowy owl, after wowing spectators for more than a month in the area around the reservoir, finally departed in early March — "to begin her long journey back to far-north breeding grounds," Barrett wrote.