A tattoo-covered transient with a mile-long rap sheet was charged yesterday in the horrific daylight rape of an elderly birdwatcher in Central Park’s Strawberry Fields.

David Albert Mitchell, 42, was hit with a laundry list of charges in Wednesday’s savage attack, in which he allegedly beat, raped and robbed his victim in retaliation for her taking a picture of him masturbating a week earlier.

The creep spat at a Post reporter’s face when asked about his alleged crimes as cops walked him out of the Special Victims Squad in East Harlem.

“I attacked no one,” he later barked as he was led in shackles into Central Booking.

He was ordered held without bail at his arraignment early this morning on charges that included rape, robbery and assault.

Prosecutor James Zaleta told the judge that Mitchell “jumped on her back, forced her to the ground [and] pounded her head repeatedly’’ before raping her. Zaleta said Mitchell had admitted he was the one caught on a surveillance camera leaving the scene.

Mitchell, a career criminal who has a history of preying on elderly women, was busted Wednesday evening at Amsterdam Avenue and West 77th Street by three rookie cops who recognized him from surveillance footage.

The 73-year-old victim picked Mitchell out of a lineup at the station house after first not recognizing him in a photo array shown at her apartment.

The alleged rape is the latest act in a lengthy criminal career. . .