Photograph courtesy of palemale.com
Pale Male sees his reflection in the window and goes for it with his extremely strong feet. BANG! At this point in the season he is so testosteroned out that he does a lot of this, which has to be a bit startling for the residents inside the apartments. Eventually you'll see many of the blinds go down on Fifth Avenue during the season at certain times of day when the reflection is most likely to catch his eye.
Photograph courtesy of palemale.com
Pale Male scopes the area from one of his favorite perches on the Linda Building. Note that today the blinds are closed and will likely remain closed for some months when no one is actively looking out the window.
In fact I've watched from the Hawk Bench as residents of Linda slowly approach an open blind from the side and gently pull it down as Pale Male sits on the wrought iron outside the window.
Photograph courtesy of palemale.com
Pale Male's Mate eyes a Robin. This Robin perched in the tree is not likely to be in much danger but I have seen Pale Male nab an unsuspecting Robin on the ground by flying in behind it..
Our hawk watching buddy Bill, down at 1 Police Plaza, after keeping an eye peeled for ages, has finally spotted the local hawk yet again.
Well I finally saw the hawk behind 1 Police plaza. All I had was my cell phone and it takes crappy pictures.
Anyway this guy/gal looked kind of small, but it was 30 feet in the air so who knows. Feasting on a pigeon. Didn’t seem the least bit concerned that an audience had formed.
Just thought I would forward it to you
Be well
Bill
I love the fact that people were interested enough to form a crowd and also that she (that's the universal "she", I don't know this bird's sex) was human habituated enough to enjoy her squab while being watched.
Which brings up another topic-
As a majority of you know, many an urban Hawk eats pigeons as a mainstay of their diet as does their young. Four years ago I did a study in Central Park and the Central Park hawks diet consists of 80% pigeon. When the pigeon flock fails due to lack of food, the hawks might be hungry enough to eat a dicey rat, (possibly poisoned) which ordinarily they'd only consider eating a nice healthy one. Therefore it would be nice if when eating lunch outside for instance, you might accidentally make sure the pigeons have some lunch too.
Though do absolutely make sure the food is all gone before dusk. The rats do just fine on their own when it comes to food. They have the capacity to rip open the thousands of plastic trash bags left on curbs and feast. Urban pigeon flocks often depend on direct feeding from humans to survive.
Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne
I had always wondered if the human residents in Pale Male's residential territory are in awe of him as we are. Nice to read that some of them approach quietly so as not to disturb him as he sits on the ledge outside their window!
ReplyDeleteOh - and a little rust colored screech owl has taken up residence in my owl house about 50' away from my kitchen window. I've seen her sunning at dusk and looking around at dawn the past two days. I am so excited!
Jane,
ReplyDeleteOh yes, many of Pale Male's neighbors are sweet on him.
There are a few of course who lack empathy, or don't enjoy nature's wonders, and feel they own everything they see and have the right to control it, but thank goodness most find Pale Male and now Pale Beauty to be wonders.
Jane, you must have some sort of camera, yes? We sure would like to see some pictures of your owl and to share the experience with you. You can click on the Contact Me link on the mainpage, the right column to have my email address pop up.