Fisher Park
Dennis Burnette
County: Guilford
Habitats: Mature hardwood forest with scattered understory clumps of shrubs.
Key birds: Summer: Wood Thrush, Gray Catbird. Winter: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hermit Thrush, Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow. Year-round: Pileated, Red-bellied, Red-headed, Hairy, and Downy Woodpeckers, Northern Flicker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Song Sparrow, and American Goldfinch.
Best times to bird: Year-round.
Description: Fisher Park is a quiet historic, residential neighborhood park located off Elm Street just north of the Greensboro central business district. The park has many old paths through mature azaleas, perennial flower beds, and stone foot bridges that cross a little stream. Above the understory of flowering dogwood and redbud trees are mature oaks, hickories, and other hardwoods.
Directions: If approaching from Wendover Avenue go south on Elm Street to Fisher Park Circle, which borders the park on the northern, western, and southern sides; Elm Street forms the eastern border. If driving north from the downtown area, watch on the left for the beautiful old First Presbyterian Church. Continue past the church to the next left, which is Fisher Park Circle. There is no parking on Elm Street. However, after turning left, visitors will find limited parking in pull-offs around the park.
Continuing to the next intersection, one may turn left again (Carolina and Parkway intersect with Fisher Park Circle here). There is considerably more parking along this section of the park than on Fisher Park Circle. A block further south the circle turns left again at the intersection with Florence, where Temple Emanuel is on one corner and First Presbyterian is on the other across from the park. Drive through what appears to be the church parking lot to Elm Street and turn left to go back up to the other end of Fisher Park Circle. The round trip is only a little over a half-mile in length. Enter the park by foot at any of the numerous points along the periphery.
Birding Highlights: The Park is nicely landscaped but quite old, so trees are mature, and there is good understory structure. This provides excellent foraging habitat for a variety of migrating warblers. The park is known to local birders as one of the best spots in the county for migrating spring warblers. Most of the common resident species of the area have been found here. This is also a good place to find Red-headed, Red-bellied, Downy, Hairy, Pileated Woodpeckers, and Northern Flickers. In the winter Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are usually present. Thrushes like this park too, including Swainson's in migration, Hermit in winter, and Wood Thrush in summer. Almost all of the common suburban birds may be found here and in the surrounding residential lawns.
General Information: Fisher Park has no facilities and is not staffed. There are a few picnic tables at the north end of the park.
Additional Help
DeLorme map grid: page 37, A7
North Carolina Travel Map grid: G1
For more information: Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department, (336) 373-2574.