The Hawk Bench plus The New York Times includes Alex and Washoe

My daughter Samantha, her friend Ryan Patrone, and Hawk Watcher Ludie Stern, went to Central Park today in search of birds with Red-tails.

They discovered a number of Blue Jays,


numerous Blue-bar Pigeons,

and even an intermittently blue sky above 927 Fifth Avenue, a rarity these days.

And to their complete surprise they discovered that the Model Boat Pond which had been flush with Mallards just two days ago, had been drained for it's yearly repair and cleaning. Not to fear, the Mallards had just relocated to The Lake across the road but it was still a little startling to the humans unused to the artificiality of Central Park's bodies of water.

In case things seemed too strange, there was the comfort that the pigeon flock was still alive, well, and circling as usual

There was the nest perched atop the cradle, perched atop the cornice, and waiting for a couple of birds with Red-tails to set up housekeeping. Resident Hawk Bench photographer Rik Davis, explained that Lola had just left a perch over on the Oreo, but currently was nowhere in sight.

Now isn't that typical?

Samantha took off to check possible perches.

Ryan manned the Swarovski Scope, Ludie looked for a certain pair to photograph, but all to no avail. Not today any way. If it were all that easy, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun when they did appear.

But as Scarlett O'Hara so aptly says, "Tomorrow is another day."

Alex

Courtesy of The Alex Foundation

http://www.alexfoundation.org/index.htm

Washoe

Courtesy of Central Washington University

And a beautifully written piece by Charles Seibert, well worth reading, concerning the passing of Alex the African Grey Parrot and Washoe, the Chimpanzee, in their traditional end of the year New York Times Magazine, The Lives They Lived.

THE COMMUNICATORS

Alex b. 1976

Washoe b. circa 1965

By CHARLES SEIBERT
Published: December 30, 2007

"THERE IS, IN THE END, no telling what tales they had to tell, the two greatest nonhuman linguists of our day: Washoe, the sign-language-wielding chimpanzee with an intense footwear fetish; and Alex, the wildly outspoken parrot, an African gray known to regularly order about his human researchers and to purposely give them the wrong answers to their questions just to alleviate his boredom. After all, we only ever gave them our own words to work with."

www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/magazine/30washoe-t.html

(updated URL, that works thanks to Karen Anne)

I noted that the second sentence of the introduction in The Lives They Lived said, "On the last Sunday of each year, we fill these pages with stories of all kinds of people who have died during the last 12 months."

What's that they said,"...with stories of all kinds of people"? Just as a young child who begins to speak becomes more of a person to us, so too these intra-species talkers became, well no, not human exactly, they aren't Homo sapiens, but rather "people", people of another species, by learning our language. And in a gentle obscure way The York Times respected them enough to include them and say, that they were "people" too.

Donegal Browne

More Snow plus Swans

Yes, yet another layer of fresh white fluffy snow. And during the process, I've had several reports of Red-tail hawks arriving in backyards with feeders who's owners hadn't seen them before.

The question pops up as to whether this is a new behavior? Hard to tell. The variable of course is that perhaps the humans had never paid attention to those likely raptor hunting perching branches until I asked for reports. Therefore the Red-tails may have been hunting those particular feeders all along and it isn't a new behavior at all.


Note that the wooden feeder up right has developed a furry "roof". These squirrels raid the feeders no matter the weather. No semi-concious days spent snuggled into their nests for these guys.

And from William Walters, our NYTimes link finder--

NEW YORK REGION December 28, 2007

The Noble, Gentle Swan Is Anything but, to Some By THOMAS KAPLAN

The mute swan is a target of a campaign in Connecticut to reduce its numbers in the state’s delicate coastline habitats.

Donegal Browne

Sam Does Central Park for Me in the Rain

As I haven't been around for awhile, and I usually make a point of visiting the park on Christmas Day just to make sure all is in order, my daughter Sam went out to take a look around for me.

Looking at the photographs from such a gray day, I get the feeling of dormancy even more than usual from the park this winter.

No hawks in residence today Everything is just waiting a few more weeks before shaking off the slumber and getting the juices going.

Not quite everything. As usual there aren't enough Mallard Hens to go around and this Mallard is making sure the others don't get close to his mate. He got her early and he's keeping her.

Off they go to a different and more private part of the Model Boat Pond.

Not a soul at the Hawk Bench. It's early and wet.

At first I thought, "Oh no! The antenna is missing from the Oreo Building." But no it's there and before too very long, Lola will be waiting for Pale Male to bring those tasty courting gifts.

Speaking of Lola's favorite tasty courting gift, here's one now. He'd better watch out though he may be close enough to the hawk nest to be in the safety zone.

And how many hours have we all sat and looked at this view? There's Woody on the left, 927 center, Fisher to the right and even farther right, the Linda building.

As there are no hens to harass, the boys float over for a snack check.

A full view of all the little rails on Linda, and not a Red-tail in sight.

Now here's a change and a good one. At least with the sign we won't have to argue with the Mallard molesters about their motored boats being illegal on the Pond. Yes, as you see the real name of the Model Boat Pond is the Conservatory Water. The only problem is, they never got around to building the Conservatory though they did get around to floating model boats.

Who can resist Bow Bridge, even in the rain. Though today with the droplets pattering on the Lake making a mirage of its reflection, who can resist it, especially in the rain.

One of my favorite trees, there is something so animated about it.

Aha! It's one of the tiny hunters and he's looking extremely serious. What does the White-throated Sparrow, leg slightly lifted and ready to go, see?

Whatever it is, he knows dormancy doesn't get a bird anywhere, and rushes over and seizes the day and the prey. Soon Pale Male and Lola will be doing the same.

Donegal Browne