Pale Male and Lola call it quits.... Wood Thrushes just beginning

Pale Male & Lola near the nest--May, 2006
Photo by Lincoln Karim

Wood Thrush near Tupelo Meadow - May 17, 2006
Photo by Lloyd Spitalnik http://www.lloydspitalnikphotos.com

Jim Lewis, Pale Male's principle archivist, has written down May 21, last Sunday, as Pale Male & Lola's last day of residence on the Fifth Ave. nest. Though the hawks pay occasional visits to the ledge where, in the past, they raised 5 healthy chicks, [two additional nestlings didn't make it to fledging], they now spend most of their time in the park, and on nearby Fifth Ave buildings. In the afternoons they take in the setting sun on the Beresford on Central Park West.

The time has come to try to retrieve the three eggs, which a recent observer says are intact. They will be sent to Ward Stone, wildlife pathologist for the Department of Environmental Conservation in Albany. He has been involved in the story of the Fifth Avenue Hawks from the very start and has a special interest in them.

Meanwhile, another pair of birds is at the beginning of its family adventure in Central Park: Wood Thrushes have built a nest at the east end of the Tupelo Meadow. The female has begun incubating.

PS As in previous years when wood thrushes have nested in Central Park, [almost 10, n0t all successful] streamers of scavenged toilet paper may be seen hanging from their nest. Central Park birds are anything but squeamish.