A New Bird, and a Joyful Bather

I'd never seen a Virginia rail, but I got the chance on Sept. 9th to see one at Swampy Pin Oak and near the Lake in Central Park. This little visitor caused quite a bit of excitement among the bird watchers. My video is very short — it was hard to see the bird as it dug in the mud for insects.

A Virginia rail at the Lake, Central Park, Sept. 9, 2016.

I have been fortunate to see a lot of redstarts over the past few years, and always delight in their yellow spots on their tails. But I must say that on Sept. 10, I was grinning my face off as I watched one young redstart take a bath at Triplets Bridge. I've taken videos of a lot of birds bathing, and there will be a Bird Bath II coming soon. But I just couldn't wait to share this bird's joy of bathing, which I set to music by Charles Gounod.

A young redstart pre-bath at Triplets Bridge, Sept. 10, 2016.

I set the Virginia rail Filming the Feathers video to Chopin.

Some more photos of the rail, and of our happy redstart.

More Hawk Chasing in Central Park

September 3, the evening after Pale Male hung batlike from a tree, he posed for pictures near the restrooms at Maintenance Meadow, then swooped down, caught a rat, and ate the rat on the ground. Did he mantle the rat because he remembered what happened when he flew too soon to a tree the night before, or did he mantle it because Octavia was nearby and he was not going to give her any until he was good and ready? At any rate, when he finished half the rat, he did give the remainder to Octavia on Cedar Hill, and she ate a lot of it before flying off.

Pale Male in the Ramble, September 3, 2016

On September 4, I saw Pale Male after he had raided a squirrels' nest and ate a baby squirrel. I was able to photograph him in the Ramble and on Cedar Hill. On September 5 after the Yankees game and before my singing workshop, I lucked into Fred Hawk over the bridle path south of the Reservoir, north of the west Pinetum. I hadn't seen him this close for quite a while, and it was nice to just watch him for a while.

Fred Hawk, over the bridle path south of the Reservoir, September 5, 2016

There is some rat eating in the first video. Just posing in the second.

Pale Male and Octavia, on September 3. The last two photos are Octavia.

Pale on September 4, and a grieving squirrel.

Fred Hawk, over the bridle path south of the Reservoir. He flew here after a brief stop in the Pinetum across the transverse.

Dinner With Pale Male, the Red-Tailed Bat

Friday evening, Sept. 2, 5:15 p.m. Pale Male is perched in a tree over Iphigene's Walk in the Ramble. He has been hunting in the area recently (I last saw him here on Aug. 24). Is he aware of the little brown rabbit that someone abandoned in Maintenance Meadow? Is that why he is hunting here?

Pale Male swoops down to the west side of the restroom building and catches a small rat. He takes it back near Iphigene's Walk and eats it swiftly. He sits some more, looking around.

5:35 p.m. Pale Male swoops back to the building and grabs another rat. He subdues it with his talons, and this time flies south with it, then heads east. When next seen, he is hanging upside from a small tree by one talon, batlike, the rat in his beak. Is he in trouble, or a trapeze artist? We held our breaths.

Pale Male, Batbird?

After what seems like forever but is actually about a minute, he lets go of the tree and lands on the ground, repositions the rat in his talons, and flies back to a tree over Maintenance Meadow and has his second course.

Pale Male after the trapeze act.

Once finished, he flies north over the 79th Street transverse and perches in a pine tree, surrounded by soft needles.

I put together a video of the evening dramatics with the famous red-tailed hawk. It's a Bird! It's a Bat! It's Pale Male! is one of my favorites!

I was able to take some nice photos. This was a truly remarkable evening with a truly remarkable bird.