Five bald eagles were spotted flying over the reservoir in Central Park on Sunday morning, tweets by @BirdCentralPark and @abclooksatbirds report.
Another Twitter user said they spotted the same flock flying over Riverside Park near West 60th Street earlier on Sunday. And another tweet attributed the sighting to strong winds.
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While bald eagles make for one of the most majestic animal sightings one could ask for, this is certainly not the first time one has been seen in NYC.
In January of this year, a bald eagle was seen in Riverside Park between 108th and 116th Streets.
Our Gardeners were downright giddy about seeing this Bald eagle near the woodland today pic.twitter.com/6s1P1UFMyC
— Riverside Park Conservancy (@RiversideParkNY) January 21, 2020
New York State’s Department of Natural Conservation states that “In winter, eagles tend to congregate around areas of open water, especially when cold weather causes ice to form on many open waterbodies.” So this appears to be the season to be on the lookout for more eagle sightings.
The states that while New York State’s current bald eagle population is unknown, there were “426 active breeding pairs” in 2017. Most of them are not in the city, but if you see one, please email us a photo for a chance to be featured!
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I saw one outside the Cloisters two weeks ago. I never thought I’d spot one outside of a sanctuary so it was pretty exciting. Much too fast to get on camera though!