Photo courtesy of palemale.com
Once again Ginger Lima stays late on the nest. But what really struck me in this photo is how much her her head and over shoulder coloration looks like Isolde of the Cathedral Nest at St. John the Divine.
Photo courtesy of Rik Davis and The NYTimes
Ginger Lima, left, and Pale Male, right.
A little silly but as is often said by motion picture stars, Pale Male being a motion picture star, "Any press is good press."
Enough of Violet and Bobby, live from the nest — you know, the red-tailed hawks at New York University with the video feed. Inquiring minds want to know what’s with Pale Male and all the girlfriends.
The Ann Landers of red-tailed hawk sociology, as John Blakeman calls himself, cleared his throat and talked about mate-swapping.
Apparently Pale Male, the red-tail with the Fifth Avenue address, has been doing that lately, Mr. Blakeman said, even though it “violates everything we know about red-tails.”
Ah, yes. It’s spring, and you don’t have to be Tennyson to fancy that some New Yorkers’ thoughts will turn to Pale Male’s love life.
There is a lot to report.
For more.... The NYTimesThe Peregrine Falcon on 888 finally moved and Brett Odom reports, that no, there are no eggs after all. At least on that spot. She just appears to like to sit there in a strange crouch for long periods of time. Eggnant?
Seed Robin darts out from under the glider scaring the other foraging birds away. He then stands there grumpily crunching a seed in his beak.
And the Great Blue Heron makes his daily trip across the sky near dusk.
Plus for those fond of little birdie whimsy, The Madison WI, Rubber Duckie Car.
Every two or three months, a robin will show up on my deck where the bird seed and peanuts are and decide nothing is interesting except the birdbath for a drink.
ReplyDeleteI've tried leaving out blueberries for them, but they just rot.
But a few days ago a robin did eat a couple of peanuts.
The doves never touch the peanuts. I wonder if their beaks are not strong enough for nuts or if they just don't like them.
It's kind of amazing how strong the sparrows' beaks seem to be, like little nutcrackers.
Karen,
ReplyDeleteDoves and pigeons are considered soft billed birds so I suspect that a Mourning Dove would be hard pressed to crunch peanuts. NYC pigeons on the other hand love peanuts and have taught themselves to swallow the nuts whole when without the shell. Sometimes it does take a couple of swallows. :-) So I suspect that if a pigeon can't crunch up a peanut the smaller less beefy Dove certainly wouldn't be able to.
You're so right, sparrows and finches really can be nutcrackers.
I discovered that my Robins come immediately when I throw the remains of Silver's bowls out. it isn't just the seed but also Silver loves cheese so there are fragments of cheese that go out as well. I threw out the remains in his bowls and within 20 seconds 2 Robins and a Starling were out there fighting over the cheese fragments. Who knew?