'The show is here': Birders flock to New York City's Bryant Park to see migrating American Woodcock

Birders and curious New Yorkers gathered in Manhattan's Bryant Park on Monday (April 6), to catch a glimpse of an American Woodcock, a migratory bird more often associated with forests and brushy thickets than the center of the nation's largest city.

The American Woodcock is a rotund, short-legged bird related to sandpipers that uses its long bill to probe damp soil for earthworms, according to the National Audubon Society. Often difficult to spot, it is mostly active at night.

Bryant Park says the bird tends to stop over there during its early-spring migration before continuing north.

The bird, tucked into vegetation amid the busy park, drew onlookers on Monday armed with binoculars, cameras and cell phones. Some had traveled long distances for the chance to see it.

"The show is here," said Gino Salomone, a Milwaukee resident visiting New York City, who stopped by before a morning work meeting. "Some people come here for Broadway. I come here for the birds."

Judy Rice, who came from the Bronx neighborhood of New York City, said she hoped to get a better look. "There it is. Sleeping. I want to see that long bill. I hope he wakes up," she said.

The American Woodcock tends to stop over in Bryant Park during tis early-spring migration, according to the Bryant Park, before continuing its journey north.

Tiffany O'Brien traveled overnight by train from Lake Placid to see the bird, describing Bryant Park as "a really special little haven and stopover place for a lot of migrants."

"I know it's been here for a little while, but I wasn't able to come here until today, so I had my fingers crossed that we still had some time," O'Brien said. "Luckily, I feel very blessed."

"I actually cried," she added. "But yeah, happy tears, for sure."

-Andrew Hofstetter, Christine Kiernan/Reuters