Wild Turkey, 4 Weeks Later
The park’s young Wild Turkey is looking much better and seems to be nearing the end of his fall Juvenile molt.
The park’s young Wild Turkey is looking much better and seems to be nearing the end of his fall Juvenile molt.
There was a Cooper’s Hawk in the Ramble of Central Park today. It was one of our first really crisp fall days, and we should have Cooper’s Hawks in the park from now until Spring. It was one of my first surprises, when I started bird watching in the park, that Central Park is the winter home of many birds.
Pale Male went “to bed” in this week’s usual spot tonight. Lola flew over to be near him, but kept on going and perched on a tree north of the Met for about ten minutes. She then went to a tree next to Pale Male’s. But she didn’t stay and left going south south along the east side of the Great Lawn, where I lost track of her in the twilight.
When I finally think I understand this pair, they always do something that surprises me. I guess it’s what makes watching them so much fun.
The pictures below are of Pale Male on his roost for the evening.
Pale Male was on the Belvedere Castle flagpole when I arrived at the Great Lawn this evening. He flew off seeming to chase a bird off, while going to his nighttime roost.
In the early evening, Pale Male was in a tree in the Great Lawn. He flew off after something, and both birds touched in flight. I couldn’t identify the species of bird Pale Male got into a tussle with, but if I had to make an educated guess, based on its square striped tail and size relative to Pale Male, I would choose Sharp-shinned Hawk. Afterward, Pale Male was found in one of his favorite roost trees. I didn’t have a chance to see if he stayed in the tree for the evening.
The Wild Turkey in Central Park is looking a lot better these days. Almost all of the molted feathers are coming back and today for the first time I heard it start to vocalize. I can’t wait to see what the final result is going to look like (and sound like) in a few weeks!