Haley Nelson Park is a relatively quiet city park in the sense of daily usage. Weekends can find events and activities going on in the park which would make birding more difficult. The only caveat to the "quietness" of the park is the houses on the south side. These neighbors have backyard flocks of chickens with roosters crowing continuously and lots of dogs barking. 

Park in the far right (southeast) corner of the parking area. Then start walking east from the parking area on the path surrounding the soccer fields. This path will take you along the tree line on the south park boundary. Warblers, woodpeckers, bluebirds and orioles have all been found in these trees.

The downside to this route is that you will be facing mostly into the sun if you are walking this path in the morning. But, neither the path on the north nor the south side of the soccer fields would be good in the morning--both will have a lot of facing sun. The reason for going east is that's the best part of the park for birding because of the large trees on that end and because Hamilton Creek which forms the eastern border of the park. Hamilton Creek can still attract birds because of its tangle of vegetation even when there is no water in the creek.

At the far southeast corner of the park, do a little cross-country trekking to follow the creek. Cedar Waxwings have flocked into the ligustrum bushes and then down to any little puddles of water in the creek. Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Eastern Phoebes and Carolina Wrens have also been seen in this area. It is possible to walk all the way to State Highway 29 from this location, along the backside of an office building that abuts Hamilton Creek, and then continue on to Hamilton Creek Park with its paved pathways and park ducks and geese.

Great Horned Owls have nested in the large oak trees in the far eastern end of the park. Other birds of note are:

• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• Chuck-will's Widow
• Chimney Swift
• Green Heron, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Mallard (with water in the creek)
• Northern Harrier, Sharp-Shinned, Cooper's, Red-shouldered, Zone-tailed and Red-tailed Hawks
• Yellow-bellied, Golden-fronted, Red-bellied, Downy and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers and Northern Flicker
• Crested Caracara, American Kestrel and Merlin
• Eastern Wood-Pewee, Yellow-bellied, Acadian, Least, Vermilion and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Eastern Phoebe
• White-eyed, Bell's, Yellow-throated, Blue-headed, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireos
• Purple Martin, Northern Rough-winged, Barn, Cliff and Cave Swallows
• Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets
• Brown Creeper
• Canyon, House, Winter, Carolina and Bewick's Wrens
• Eastern Bluebird, Swainson's and Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Cedar Waxwing
• Chipping, Clay-colored, field, Black-throated, Lark, Fox, White-crowned, Harris's, White-throated, Savannah, Song and Lincoln's Sparrows, Dark-eyed Junco andSpottenTowhee
• Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-White, Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Mourning, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green and Wilson's Warblers, American Redstart, Northern Parula and Common Yellowthroat
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo ad Painted Buntings
• Dickcissel

Haley-Nelson Park, a 51 acre city park featuring soccer fields, an amphitheater, disk golf, a picnic pavilion, two washer complexes, and walking and hiking trails, is now open to the public. HNP is located on Garden Trails Drive, just off Highway 29 West and behind the City's Maintenance Facility.  Call (512) 756-6093 to schedule use of the amphitheater.