McIntire Park

Centrally located in the City of Charlottesville just off US 250, McIntire Park is one of the city’s largest and most visited parks. Though it’s species total is less impressive than some of Cville’s other hotspots, it offers birders opportunities to see some species that are otherwise very difficult within city limits. 

The park can easily be accessed by parking in one of the lots located at the north end of Rugby Avenue by the softball fields and YMCA. There is also a small gravel lot located at the west end of the footbridge that crosses the railroad tracks. 

The area of the park east of the railroad tracks is by far the better place to look for birds at all times of year. Early spring offers migrant Eastern Meadowlarks and Savannah and Vesper Sparrows (this is probably the best location for the latter species anywhere in the greater Cville area, since the lack of suitable habitat in the city funnels them all here). The sparrows are found all throughout this area, but are especially fond of the southeast corner of the hill, near a young sycamore tree. This is also a prime location to observe Tree Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds, as many nest boxes are scattered throughout the park. Keep an eye out for Common Ravens as well, since they have nested on the cell tower visible to the north and this is the time of year when you could observe behaviors such as carrying nesting material. 

Later in spring and summer, the oak grove atop the hill is worth a check for migrant warblers, and Blue Grosbeaks, Indigo Buntings, Orchard Orioles, Great Crested Flycatchers, and Eastern Kingbirds can all be found here with regularity during the breeding season. 

Fall birding offers a chance for sparrows such as White-crowned and Lincoln’s, and Palm Warblers are ubiquitous in the weedy fields. Winter is not really a worthwhile time to visit, as all the other good hotspots in the area have the same species and more. 

One thing to note for birding in both spring and fall is that many migrant birds pass through the park early in the morning, stopping either briefly or not at all, so a dawn visit in migration could definitely pay off (this is how all of the Bobolinks have been recorded here so far). Also, the hill is a prime vantage point for hawk watching.

The area west of the train tracks is not nearly as good, but the woods behind the YMCA have some trails that can hold migrant warblers and if you are lucky, a Barred Owl.  There is also a wooded area with some mowed paths on the east side of the tracks, north of the grassy knoll, this area could turn up warblers, but is usually pretty lackluster. This area is slated to become a botanical garden at some point in the future. 

Notable records for the city include Wilson’s Snipe, Mississippi Kite, American Pipit, Grasshopper Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Bobolink, and Dickcissel.

Owner/Manager: City of Charlottesville

eBird Hotspot: McIntire Park

—Drew Chaney

Greenbriar Park

Greenbrier Park is located in the Meadow Creek stream valley in the northern part of the City of Charlottesville. The park is confined to a narrow strip of woods and wet fields sandwiched between residential neighborhoods and shopping centers. The Rivanna Trail runs through the park and stream valley from the Norfolk Southern Railroad west to Hydraulic Road.  Some of the finest habitat in the city limits is found here, including alluvial floodplain forest, floodplain swamp, shrub swamp, oak-hickory forest, and wet weedy fields. 

The park shines in spring and fall when a wide variety of migrants can be expected, with fall being especially good for sparrows and fall warblers, and spring excellent for a wide variety of Neotropical migrants. Lincoln’s and White-crowned Sparrows, Tennessee, Palm, and Nashville Warblers, Least Flycatcher, and Catharus thrushes are some of the expected species in the fall, while species like Black-throated Blue Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Northern Waterthrush, Yellow Warbler, Rusty Blackbird, are especially likely in the spring. Almost all of the eastern warblers have been recorded here, with Swainson’s, Cerulean, Kentucky, and Connecticut being the only ones left (for now!) Summer birding is much less exciting, since the lack of large expanses of any specific habitat and suburban location means that breeding birds are restricted to the more common generalist species. Indigo Bunting, Orchard Oriole, Wood Thrush, Great Crested Flycatcher, Common Yellowthroat, Red-eyed Vireo, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Wood-Pewee and possibly Scarlet Tanager being some of the more interesting species to breed here. Winter birding offers a chance to see most of the typical species found in central Virginia, excluding most waterfowl and birds of extensive open habitats.

East of Brandywine Drive the park is predominantly floodplain forest and is probably the best area to bird in spring, while the area west of Brandywine features upland oak-hickory forest and a large wet field which is where most of the sparrows and other fall migrants are found. There are a couple of rock crossings on the creek required to access the field from Brandywine Drive. These are best attempted during low water if you do not have wading boots. An alternate way to access these fields is to park at the apartments at the end of Michie Drive. The mowed path along the west side of the creek here is a great way to look for fall migrants, and the edge habitat between this path and the shopping center also has potential for overwintering passerines as well. 

The park has 149 species recorded as of right now (December 2019). Notable species recorded here include Black-billed Cuckoo (5/20/2019), Philadelphia Vireo (9/24/2019, 9/28/2019, 9/30/2019), Golden-winged Warbler (9/30/2019), Mourning Warbler (5/17/2019 and 9/7/2019), Orange-crowned Warbler (10/20/2018, 10/27/2019, 11/1/2019), Marsh Wren (10/12/2019 and 10/21-28/2019), American Tree Sparrow (12/11-29/2017), and Clay-colored Sparrow (11/1/2019).

Accessibility: Greenbriar Park is easily accessed by the Rivanna Trail, which runs through the whole park. A gravel trail and boardwalk runs from Brandywine Drive east to the railroad on the north bank  of the creek, and dirt trails run west from Brandywine Drive to Hydraulic Road, as well as along the opposite side of the creek from the gravel multi-use path.

Owner/Manager: City of Charlottesville

eBird Hotspot: Greenbriar Park

—Drew Chaney