Inwood Hill Park

You can start your birdwalk at Inwood Hill Park by entering at 218th Street and Indian Road. This lower area of the park borders Spuyten Duyvil Creek, the entrance to the Harlem River. Two shallow bays here include mudflats and Muscota Marsh, a small salt marsh restored from an old boat storage yard and opened to the public by NYC Parks and Columbia University in 2014. (The Columbia University Tennis Center is next door, along with a small dock used by the nonprofit Harlem River Community Rowing.) A boardwalk and gravel pathway allow access to the waterfront, and paths provide access to a peninsula separating the two bays. 

 

During migration, check along the bays and shoreline, particularly the mudflats at low tide, for shorebirds (particularly Solitary, Spotted, and Least Sandpipers) and gulls. In spring and early summer, Belted Kingfisher and Northern Rough-winged Swallow are regular visitors. Red-winged Blackbirds and Song Sparrows have nested in the salt marsh reeds. 

 

In the summer, Great Egret often come to forage on the mudflats, and, from time to time, Black-crowned Night-Heron roost in the trees along Baker Bay, the smaller bay. Warbling Vireo and Baltimore and Orchard Orioles regularly nest in trees lining the fields between the water and woodlands, and can be heard singing through the summer. Keep a look out for Red-tailed Hawks, which often nest at the edge of the woods here.

To explore the woodlands of the ridge, follow the paved paths that go into the woods from the southwest corner of the soccer field. The northern path (on the right) winds its way around and onto the north side of the ridge (under the Henry Hudson Bridge, take the switchback upward). The southern route (on the left) goes into the Clove before climbing the ridge. Either way offers good opportunities for flycatchers and songbird migrants, spring and fall. 

 

During nesting season, look and listen for the following forest species in Inwood Hill Park: 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak has also been recently found breeding here. These forests also host many native wildflowers not found in the more heavily used City parks, including Dutchman’s Breeches, Purple Trillium, Mayapple, and Jack-in-the-Pulpit. 

At the top of the Clove path there is an intersection; bear hard right on a paved path that goes northward along the east side of the ridge, listening for Indigo Bunting, which have nested on the west side of this path. Eastern Screech-Owl may also be found and have nested here in the past. 

Approximately 400 yards after the intersection, a side road comes in on the left (west). Stay on the main road, beyond the point where the side road splits off, to a junction with a small side trail leading to a lookout over a stone wall. Here you are level with the tops of tall trees growing in the valley, a good vantage to view treetop warblers, particularly in the morning when the east side of the ridge catches the sun. These tiny wonders actively forage for insects in the treetops and rapidly dart from tree to tree looking for places to rest and feed.

 

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Back on the main path going south (retracing your steps) take the road to the west that leads to an area of small trees and secondary growth, known as the Overlook Meadow. The west side of this area offers a view—not to be missed—of the Hudson River and across to the Palisades. In the fall you can watch hawks and waterfowl migrating south along the river. As you gaze across the river to the Palisades, Turkey Vulture or Bald Eagle may be seen soaring in the updrafts.

 

After exploring the ridge, you can return the way you came or take the north path, which goes past the Henry Hudson Bridge toll booths before swinging under the bridge and switching back down to the east side of the ridge. The north path leads to the soccer field near Muscota Marsh, where you started. 

When you are under the bridge, you may choose to take a path that leads westward to the Hudson River and the ball (“Dyckman”) fields. This path crosses the Amtrak railroad tracks via an overpass. (For a more direct route to this portion of the river’s edge, start at Dyckman Street, at the southern end of the park, and walk westward.) Check these fields during migration for unusual grassland such as American Pipit and Bobolink, as well as unusual sparrows.  

 

From the pier where Dyckman Street meets the river, savor the view across the Hudson and watch for migrating waterbirds and raptors. Bring a scope and perhaps a chair and search the river for ducks. Bald Eagles have become an increasingly common sighting here in winter. (The Dyckman Marina is actually part of adjacent Fort Washington Park, which creates a contiguous green space southward along the Hudson.)

Inwood Hill Park has a number of very interesting geological and historical features. Inwood Hill’s stony promontories contain all three types of New York City bedrock--gneiss, marble, and schist. A large outcropping of marble is visible on the northeast side of the intersection of Seaman Avenue and Isham Street (as well as in neighboring Isham Park). Glacial potholes are exposed on the west side of the rock wall near the upper end of the Clove path. 

 

Inwood was the site of a Native American village (Shorakapok). In the 1890s, Native American artifacts were unearthed from caves in the ridge on the west side of the Clove. Some caves, actually rock overhangs, are still visible. Each June, an annual event takes place in the park in partnership with NYC Parks and others: Drums Along the Hudson®: A Native American and Multicultural Celebration.

 

During the Revolutionary War, the north end of the ridge (then called Cock Hill) was the site of an earthen fort and the surrounding areas the site of a Hessian encampment. Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, a colonial era farmhouse at Broadway and 204th Street (2 blocks from the park) houses artifacts from the period.