Sunday, April 03, 2011

Pale Male and Ginger

5:13 PM (All times PM, Central Time) Ginger cruises onto the nest and checks out the partial pigeon Pale Male has placed there for her. In fact as he flew back and forth in front of the nest to get her attention, he seems purposely to have lured her here and seems rather impatient for her (Or someone for goodness sake), to buckle down on the nest and lay some eggs. 5:16:26 He is disappointed in his ploy as Ginger, pleased with the gift, picks it up and takes off with it. Sigh. 5:23 He continues to watch her. And she's still not coming back to the nest. 5:27 Pale Male takes off and heads toward the northeast the area he has been watching and where she is likely eating. 5:55 Pale Male reappears and does an in and out around the buildings on Fifth Avenue up to Woody Building. He appears to have been checking both sides of the buildings as he often does towards sunset. He wouldn't want anyone who shouldn't be roosting on "his buildings". 5:59:47 Pale Male takes a perch on the railing of Woody and continues to scope the area with particular focus on the "Ginger area". All this thinking about eating makes me realize I've not eaten all day, I then head for the opposite side of the Model Boat Pond for a snack. It also has the advantage of being just to the south of Woody, so I can keep an eye on Pale Male. I gobble my tidbit, with eyes on PM, wipe my fingers and am just going to take a picture from the new angle, when he takes off Woody and heads into the treeline of Central Park. I head in the direction in which he seems to be going. I suspect he's given up on Ginger taking to the nest tonight and is heading for his roost tree. 6:13:58 Then this hawk appears in the sky. Ginger? Pale Male? It's too dark for me to be comfortable with a confirmed ID. Though at the time I thought it was P.M. This hawk heads off toward the trees on Cedar Hill. I walk past Cedar Hill, walk across one of the stone arched passageways of Central Park and find myself seeing the silhouette of the Beresford. I continue to walk, enjoying the park, thinking of the day, and still trying to figure out what has been happening with Pale Male, his intermittent mates and everything else besides. 6:38 I look down and have one of those pleasant unexpected New York moments. I smile and mentally thank the person who chalked the "gift" on the path. 7:38:37 It's another hour before the vagaries of the NYC transportation system has convinced me that I should walk from 42nd and Fifth to 43rd and Ninth. During the walk, I pass Times Square and this section of Broadway which has been blocked off. It is literally packed shoulder to shoulder with visitors to the city, with their heads turned up and eyes reflecting the flash and glitter of the Great White Way. Addendum: Well folks, it turns out I took 800 photographs today and as you can see, I haven't posted nearly that many. I arrived at Central Park well before today's blog begins so you'll be seeing more of today's photographs along with those from upcoming days. Stay tuned for some new tidbits of behavior and the theories about just what is going on with PM and Company from the Hawk Bench as well. Happy Hawking! Donegal Browne

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