Friday, January 30, 2009

Falcon In Tompkins? Pale Male's Grandson?


Photograph by Francois Portmann, www.fotoportmann.com/
VALKYRIE OF TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK
C H E L S E A N O W
THE A-LIST
http://www.chelseanow.com/cn_120/thealist.html
compiled by Sarah Norris

Volume 3, Number 14 The Weekly Newspaper of Chelsea January 30 - February 12, 2009


One of the compiled notices was this one.

Imbolc Fire and Falcon Naming CeremonyOn wings of ice Imbolc comes Emulc, or “Ewe’s Milk,” the time when sheep began to lactate in the dead of winter, halfway between Solstice and Equinox....So come ye, and nurse on the spirit of the season! And for a double dose of festive revelry: Help us name the East Village falcon, grandson of Pale Male who’s been seen daily at Tompkins Square. Let him be called Chico in honor of the bulldozed garden, Chico Mendes Mural Garden, which in turn was named in honor of Chico Mendes, the great Rainforest martyr. Hosted by Dias y Flores Community Garden. Light a taper for Candlemas and spin around for Ground Hog’s Day! Sun., Feb. 1 from 2-6 p.m. Free. 520 East 13th St. (btwn Aves. A & B).


As there were some issues of confusion in the section. I wrote to Sarah Norris who had compiled the material the note copied below.

Dear Sarah,

I was interested to see the section of the The A List, January 30 - February 12, 2009 which includes--"Help us name the East Village falcon, grandson of Pale Male who’s been seen daily at Tompkins Square."

The only Falcon that I've seen in Tompkins Square is a tiny male Kestrel. He's about the size of a Mockingbird, eats sparrows, and is so quick 98% of people would never see him. Plus he is the wrong species to be related to Pale Male in anyway.

Pale Male is a Red-tailed Hawk not a Kestrel. Kestrels are Falcons. Pale Male and other Red-tailed hawks are classed as buteos, The raptor seen daily by most visitors to Tompkins Square Park is another gorgeous Red-tail, a first year female, named Valkyrie.

I write one of the urban hawk blogs in the city,
http://palemaleirregulars.blogspot.com/ and have been reporting on Valkyrie, who is a daredevil with personality to spare, (and other nature news) for some months now, illustrated by photographs by Chelsea professional photographer Francois Portmann, www.fotoportmann.com/ .

Pale Male Irregulars reports on many urban raptor pairs around the city during the breeding season in particular but also wintering raptors such as Valkyrie. See attachment for photos of her.

Is she the bird referred to in the A list?

Also seen in the park often, but less frequently than Valkyrie, is a first year male Red-tailed Hawk. Naming him would be lovely, for as far as I know he's not been named as yet and could very much use a name.

Best regards,
Donegal
http://palemaleirregulars.blogspot.com/
347-783-9467

2 comments:

cvinzant said...

Francois' photos continue to amaze me. They are gorgeous!

Donegal Browne said...

Absolutely! Francois has taken unbelievable stunners of Valkyrie.