Backyard and Beyond

And so our saga comes to an end. I had walked around a corner and there was this Red-tailed Hawk on the edge of the water. A large weeping willow was near by, so I used it as cover to get a bit closer. I got this look. It wasn’t as if the bird didn’t know I was there. But it didn’t give a fig (leaf?) for my presence and went about its ablutions. The whole sequence can be seen here.
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Allow me to call your attention to this excellent short essay on humor in our dark age.

Grooming.Never forget your surroundings.Air dry.
Part 4.
Part 3.
Part 2.
Part 1.

And repeat:

P.S> the 55 Water Street Peregrine nest camera is back on. (Two eggs yesterday.)

You have, I hope, noticed this.This Red-tailed Hawk has a single red tail feather. The bird is less than a year old, and with luck will celebrate its birthday this summer. Right now, it’s maturing, a process that includes losing its old tail feathers and growing new and rather different ones. By its first birthday, it should have the full complement of these rufous tail feathers, source of the species’ common name. For obvious reasons, molting — the transitional replacement of feathers throughout the year — can’t all happen at once.

Birds may bathe everyday, and some passerines have been recorded bathing five or more times a day. In winter and in arid locations, access to water can obviously limit this frequency. “In order to make the flow of water efficient, the movement of the feather tracts is combined with other movements in the following sequence: (1) Fluffing the feathers, combined with flicking the wings, (2) ducking the head and forebody under water, (3) rolling the head and body in water, and (4) lifting the forebody out of the water,combined with the lowering of the rearbody. Then follows a pause and the whole cycle is repeated.” ~ M. Slessers, “Bathing Behavior of Land Birds” The Auk, Vol. 87, No. 1 (Jan., 1970), pp. 91-99.Who, really, likes water in the eyes?Dip.Roll to port.Starboard. (This oddly reminded me of the SS Normandie, which capsized on the North River in 1942 as it was being converted into a troop ship.)

First of all, the water can’t be too deep. You have to be able to wade in (and out).Frankly, there are only limited places you can do that in Green-Wood.The Dell Water has lately been overflowing it’s banks on one side. So that looks just right…