...and perch on it

Photos courtesy of PaleMale.com
taken on October 6, 2010

Bill Trankle, a long time correspondent from Indianapolis, writes:

Marie, could you enlighten me as to the identity/purpose of the bamboo contraption that Lincoln Karim [www.palemale.com] caught Pale Male sitting in yesterday? He notes it's behind the Met, so I don't know if this is some art installation or leftover set work, or some other . . . something. Have you ever seen it?

I enlightened Bill by sending him a link [below] from the New York Times. And in the course of finding it I learned that the exhibit closes on Oct 31st. Good reminder; I've been putting off paying the roof garden a visit. Now I'll be sure to go during the next few weeks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/arts/design/12vogel.html


There are more great photos of Pale Male at the Met on the PaleMale.com site. Below is another:

Yesterday's Bird of the Day, and a bit more about a bird of the day before yesterday

Blue Grosbeak at Great Hill-- 10/3/10

For Central Park birders the bird of the day yesterday was a Blue Grosbeak. This species is listed as Infrequent on the Birds of Central Park annotated checklist. It was photographed yesterday morning at the Great Hill [in the North Woods part of the park] by Barrie Raik.

Correction:

Yesterday Jack Meyer sent an email related to the day's posting. The subject line was entitled A Small Quibble:

Marie:

On your blog (glad to see it up & running again) you label the Black-throated Blue Warbler "fall version". But males in fall have the same distinctive coloring as in spring. And females in spring look as they do in fall. First year females lack the pocket hanky.

Jack

Here's my reply to Jack: You're right!

And here are some of the birds we DID see yesterday 10/2/10

Scarlet Tanager [fall version]

Great Egret

Magnolia Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler [fall version]

Photos by Barrie Raik

Yellow-breasted Chat

Photo by LLOYD SPITALNIK -- 2006

Jack Meyer reports on this morning's bird walk:

Patricia Craig, Paula Schutte, Ellen Rockmuller, Barrie Raik, Marie Winn, Susan Shulz and I birded the Ramble this morning. We missed the bird of the day (Chat)(lacked patience). Just before 7:30 a large flight of Flickers passed overhead. Other species noted included:

Gadwall

Great Egret

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (several)

Downy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker (many)

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Blue=headed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

American Crow

Black=capped Chickadee (several)

White-breasted Nuthatch

Carolina Wren

Winter Wren

Golden=crowned Kinglet

Ruby=crowned Kinglet

Swainson's Thrush

Wood Thrush

Cedar Waxwing

Northern Parula

Magnolia Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart

Ovenbird

Northern Waterthrush

Common Yellowthroat

Scarlet Tanager

Eastern Towhee

Also noted were Felicity and Lilliana Speiser.

PS from Marie

Also encountered [in the Maintenance Meadow, where we failed to see the Chat]: Lloyd Spitalnik, the photographer who took the lovely picture above.