You never know who you'll see in Manhattan. Sometimes it a celeb, sometimes its a politician, sometimes a famous athlete. And sometimes, a famous bird; the most famous bird in the whole wide world.
Okay, we've met before. Dozens of times- in at least three counties.
Pale Male.
He's well named, as he's got to be the lightest red-tailed hawk I've ever seen. He's a pretty handsome bird too, and he's not shy.
Today he swept in from the south, in the small meadow next to the Tupelo tree, ducking crows and blue jays as he came in for a landing. In his left talon, was a dying kestrel, soon to be breakfast. I was among seven birders witnessing this event, and we were joking, asking each other if we could include the kestrel in our counts for the day! He tore a massive gash in the kestrel's breast, and then shifted over to the Tupelo. He then spent the next 15 minutes slowly and painstakingly plucking the dead hawk, sending showers of feathers down to the ground. This one gentleman I'd spoken to about 10 minutes earlier and a 1/2 mile away had just joined in with his Nikon and 600mm lens, and proceeded to take several dozen shots of the carnage. I hope to find links in the near future either showing or at least describing today's dramatic action.
In all, I saw 8 warblers- not species, warblers! They recorded 17 species yesterday, so this was a clearly dead day. Still among the eight were three very good birds, all firsts for the year. A Blackburnian warbler, a northern parula, and a hooded warbler. These are three very distinct birds, almost as far apart as you can get in the warbler world. The Blackburnian, aka "flamethroat" is a fiery orange dendroica. Hooded warblers are Wilsonia warblers, and the parula is unique to this part of North America. All three are sexually dimorphic, with males and females of different appearance. The distinction is less in the parula and hooded , and far more dramatic in the Blackburnian.
The last two days have seen significant increases in warbler and other songbird activity, but we are still slow for the season. Gnatcatchers and vireo are now out as well- still haven't seen a tanager or an oriole.
Final bit of news: Pale Male became a grandad today- his son Pale Male Jr. and Charlotte hatched their first egg of the year. I normally try to maintain the diary and answer as much as possible, but today I'll be away for about an hour or so, and then I'll be back. Last time I published I ended up staying up so late, that it ruined my next two days. Can't stay up till 12:30 anymore, and expect to be fully functional at 5AM!!
Update: Decided to add a few photos taken last Saturday. Here are a few migratorial birds- a Carolina wren (they very often overwinter) a palm warbler, and a very photogenic tree swallow.