Far left only partially in the picture is David who brings two scopes to the Bench, one to be trained on the nest and the other on any adult who may be perched in view...just to introduce people to the hawks!
Next, wearing the navy baseball cap is Tosh. He fills people in about the Sheep Meadow Hawks plus the Hawk History of NYC which he's gleaned from those who have been at it longer than he's likely been alive. It's important to pass it on!
Behind Tosh in the white cap, his face unfortunately obscured, is Carlos who takes great pictures of the birds and puts them on youtube. (And I'll get a great pic of him too soon. I promise.)
Next over talking to the kids is Stella who brings her "Stellascope" not only for the hawkwatchers but for the line of park patrons who are constantly wondering what we are up to. Their faces transform upon looking at the nest under magnification...lots of Wows, and Unbelievables as you might guess.
Well, while all that is going on...our stealthy Fifth Avenue hawks were putting on a demo which we didn't really catch was happening at the time.
I began to slightly register that the "dickey birds", as one of my old profs used to call song birds, had begun scolding over in the tree tops at the north end of the Model Boat Pond.
A Red-tail which I tentatively identified as Octavia by the wingspan appeared for just a few seconds out of nowhere and disappeared quickly traveling east beyond Shipshape.
Just as she went out of sight Pale Male appeared flying north over Shipshape as obvious as he could be. Rather like he'd been Octavia and had circled the building and come out the other side. Hmmm.
He then headed north just as obvious as you please.
Past the Carlyle....
Past the last building on the block...
And then did some extremely obvious sky dancing.
Until he managed to attract some attackers.
Although as he headed back south, his attackers gave up. Possibly because one of their attacking number had been nabbed by Pale Male only a few days ago and eaten. Perhaps he can still lure others on his obvious way back. He gives it a try.
When Pale Male gets back to Linda, one of the favorite places the dickey birds love to attack him, there are still no irate attackers so...Time for Red-tail Plan B.
Do you see him? See the highest terrace? Look under the dark gray horizontal brace that is holding the railing in place. See him now? He is mostly under it.
.Then uses the decorative molding on 927 to make his way...
...further up to the cornice so he has a variable background with an overhang plus he'll be high enough to pass over the nest and perhaps get the attention of the eyasses so they might watch this particular hunting technique and learn by example.
It looks like at least two eyasses are watching.
Then he drops down to mask his approach to the next building.
Pale Male uses the side of the jut out on Barbara Walters to mask his approach and continues these techniques until he is well past the line of buildings that encompass The Oreo and still keeps going until he is almost out of sight. Out of our sight anyway. Octavia's hawk eyes could likely tell what color talon varnish he was wearing at that distance, that is if he wore any.
Then Pale Male circles, the common attention getting device to communicate with one's mate over a long distance.
I'm thinking, what now?
(Hear Flight of the Valkyries in your head.)
I don't know about you, but I personally wouldn't pick on this bird!
After circling for several minutes attracting negative attention from the "dicky birds"...
Octavia flies off to her favorite perch to await the wrathful passerines.
It takes a few minutes for the little guys to get there. They just don't have the wings she does.
To be continued...later today!
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