Prothonotary

A protonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) has been hanging out with the lions in front of the New York Public Library’s main building at 42nd Street for the last couple of days. Paparazzi and police lines… no, just kidding, but those photographers sure are sorta-kinda like hunters, aren’t they, trying to “bag” their bird?

When I worked for NYPL, this wonderful old pile was called the “Research Library”; since then some robber baron has attempted to immortalize himself by giving oodles of money to put his name on the structure, but I don’t know what his name is without looking it up, so perhaps he should have remained anonymous.

Anyway, a prothonotary is a stunning bird (see Corey’s and Karen’s pics), one infrequently seen in the city. When I went to take a look, the bird was hopping about like a house sparrow, on the ground, the tables and chairs, and getting very close to people. This is basically unprecedented for the city.

The mouthful of the name “prothonotary” is ecclesiastical in origin, and refers to the golden robes worn by Church officials.

History Bonus: Considering how the times we live in have seen the worst resurgence since the 1950s of what Richard Hofstadter called the “paranoid style in American politics,” it’s good to be reminded of the little prothonotary’s small but starring role in the Cold War’s domestic witch hunts. The Alger Hiss case is a complicated and still contested story, so I’ll let a couple of sources tell the bird-specific parts of it: here and here.

UPDATE: The bird disappeared before Halloween. Consensus was that this was a first year male, perhaps a touch confused about migration. Presumably it gave in to the pull of migration and headed south.