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