Palemaleirregulars: Pale Male and Octavia's Double Fledgling Day--Part One

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Pale Male and Octavia's Double Fledgling Day--Part One

I'd gotten a call from Stella Hamilton that there had been a fledge at Fifth Avenue, possibly before she had gotten to the Hawk Bench. When she arrived she was told the bird on the terrace rail of the Hexagon building was Pale Male. Then she got her binoculars out and low and behold it was a fledgling!

Therefore no one knows when Large left the nest.

Here is the scorecard of who was where when I arrived a few minutes after 4PM. Large began to flap with real gusto on the railing of the Hexagon building.

Pale Male was watching the Mocking Birds scold from the treeline of Central Park and Octavia wasn't in our sight range.

Little is attempting to beat the heat by oozing into any shade possible on the nest and Medium is looking at a Mocking Bird attack in the making.

Seeing the Mocking Birds Pale Male flies off the Linda window railing.

He flies across to the Dr. Fisher Building....

And lands on the Fisher railing which is closest to the nest and makes himself a target. He's looking at the Mocking Birds in the trees.

In the meantime Octavia has flown in to take Pale Male's defense spot on the railing of Linda.

Large watches the nest.

Large toe walks on the railing.

Her attention is snagged by something in the sky.

Pale Male flies north.

Little and Medium stand shoulder to shoulder. I suspect Little likes the shade Medium throws.

Octavia is on watch.

Large looks over at the nest.
Little flaps.

Medium flaps.

Large looks down into the terrace.

Then she jumps down and disappears from sight.

Note that the feathers on Little's back look ruffled just a bit from wind. But more to the point just look at how many feathers are being blown on Medium. It appears to me that Medium had a little help fledging. In a matter of moments after this photograph was taken, she was off the nest and flying north!