Things to do / Travel Guide
With over 1,700 parks and playgrounds, New York City (NYC) is considered by many to be the greenest major city in the United States. Some of these parks are large and well-known, like Central Park, but there are many others that are great places to spend time and relax in, also offering excellent activities and attractions. Riverside Park, also in Manhattan runs for four miles along the Hudson River. There's also Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and the Staten Island Greenbelt, a system of contiguous green land in central Staten Island. The latter is much more of a natural park, with forests and hills stretching for acres in all directions.
When the ginkgos unfurl their lacey leaves along all the sidewalks in the parks and on the rooftops, you realize that spring reaches even the most urban of city blocks. In the springtime, you can find dandelions, Queen Anne's lace, goldenrod, and black-eyed Susans, along with Wild sarsaparilla, Solomon's seal, Indian pipe, bunchberry, goldthread flourish, and white cattails all over New York City blocks.
New York City's parks are home to several different species of mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. April and May see birds, such as the Baltimore oriole, wood thrush, and eastern phoebe, land in Central Park to feed during their migration north. In fact, many birds use Central Park as their summer breeding grounds. It is not unusual to see a pair of swans raising their babies on Central Park Lake. You can also gaze up at Central Park's trees, where the young of songbirds, such as robins, northern cardinal, and European starlings, hatch and live their first days. These baby birds often follow their parents, peeping and lowering their wings as if to beg for food. There are also baby waterfowl, such as mallard ducklings, which follow their parents in a single-file line swimming across the lake or other bodies of water in Central Park.
Nature Spots in Manhattan and New York City
Nature-Wildlife
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