Our backyard, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Visiting our window feeder all March, we have had a flock-lette of house finches. The females are brown, with pretty speckled markings and lovely beak-y beaks. The males are similar, except they have been dipped by their feet into raspberry sauce: their faces, upper breasts and even sometimes their backs are red, which can look iridescent in the sunlight. They seem always to be in pairs and they have gotten increasingly bold as they have gotten used to the cat, who lunges at them behind the window glass and me, who tries to stand very still and watch them. (I sometimes suspect they tolerate me because they recognize the hand that feeds them.) They continue to flee at the sight of Augustine, who comes at the window like a three-year-old tsunami.
Also have seen (and heard, as I am definitely getting better at vocal identification) a pair of cardinals, the ever-present doves and a couple of small-ish mocking birds, those these seem to prefer the suet feeder a few yards over from ours. Happily, the sparrows, starling and (shudder) pigeons are still staying away.
Friday, April 3, 2009
April 1, 2009
Target parking lot, Queens, New York
Having been run out of our apartment by the sighting of a rat (no joke!), Augustine and I went to Target in Queens. We like to park on the very top of the parking garage, in order to enjoy the view. On our way out, we saw a flock of pigeons swirling about, seemingly of their own volition. Flying slightly outside the formation, one of the pigeons seemed larger and more graceful than the rest. We soon saw that it wasn't a pigeon; it was a hawk and that there were actually two of them: while one was flying around, the other flew up to and perched upon the top of roof-top flag pole of one of the nearby buildings.
This is not the first time I've seen hawks around flocks of pigeons, though it is slightly confusing to me: are they preying on the pigeons or not? It's like seeing wolves herd sheep, the way these hawks glide about with these pigeons. Perhaps they are making the pigeons feel comfortable, relaxed: I've heard that prey that has experienced fear before death doesn't taste as good; the fear makes the flesh bitter.
I still can't say for sure what sort of hawks these were; perhaps not hawks at all, but American Harrier? I didn't have my binoculars, of course, though with migration season starting, I am considering carrying them with me full-time.
Having been run out of our apartment by the sighting of a rat (no joke!), Augustine and I went to Target in Queens. We like to park on the very top of the parking garage, in order to enjoy the view. On our way out, we saw a flock of pigeons swirling about, seemingly of their own volition. Flying slightly outside the formation, one of the pigeons seemed larger and more graceful than the rest. We soon saw that it wasn't a pigeon; it was a hawk and that there were actually two of them: while one was flying around, the other flew up to and perched upon the top of roof-top flag pole of one of the nearby buildings.
This is not the first time I've seen hawks around flocks of pigeons, though it is slightly confusing to me: are they preying on the pigeons or not? It's like seeing wolves herd sheep, the way these hawks glide about with these pigeons. Perhaps they are making the pigeons feel comfortable, relaxed: I've heard that prey that has experienced fear before death doesn't taste as good; the fear makes the flesh bitter.
I still can't say for sure what sort of hawks these were; perhaps not hawks at all, but American Harrier? I didn't have my binoculars, of course, though with migration season starting, I am considering carrying them with me full-time.
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