New York City Audubon Fall Roost Benefit

On Wednesday, September 27th, 2006 from 6-9 p.m. the New York Audubon Society will be holding its annual Fall Roost Benefit at the Boathouse in Central Park.  I went last year, had a wonderful time and will be attending again this year.  If you live or work in New York City, you should consider attending.  Tickets start at $200.

I’m donating two items to the silent auction: a framed print of the image used for this blog’s masthead and a limited edition signed folio of my Trump Parc Red-tailed Hawk photographs.

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The framed, signed print is number four of a ten copy edition.  The print measures 17″ by 8 1/2″ and the frame is 24″ by 16″.  The subjects of the photograph are the two forty-two day old, Trump Parc eyasses and their view of Central Park and the Upper West Side.

Hawks

A copy of my signed, limited edition (50 copies), 11″ by 8″, 64 page, folio of Trump Parc Red-tailed Hawk photographs will also be an item at the auction.  This folio documents the parents and their two eyasses over a hundred day period.  To my knowledge it is the only printed photo documentary of the Central Park South nest. Section include:

  • detailed photographs of the hawks nesting location and the surrounding Central Park South perches
  • the two eyasses on their nest with the spectacular New York skyline behind them
  • the days just after fledging as the two young fledglings discovered the buildings on Central Park South and 58th Street
  • their early days in Central Park
  • and how the fledglings matured and began to explore larger regions of the park and hunt on their own

The folio can be previewed as a PDF at my website.

If you attend the auction, please consider bidding on these two items.  I’ve donated the two items, so 100% of your winning bid will go directly to support NYC Audubon’s on-going conservation and education programs in the five boroughs.

For full details of about the event and how to purchase tickets, go to the New York City Audubon website.

Wildflower Meadow Warblers

Tuesday evening, I got a new hybrid for my Central Park list, a Lawrence’s Warbler, which is a Blue-Winged/Golden Winged Warbler hybrid.  The Blue-Winged/Golden Winged Warbler hybrids are discussed in great detail in the Warblers book in the Peterson Field Guide series.  The book has a great set of color plates that many Central Park birders have cut out and bound into a light weight, illustrated Warbler guide.  If you can buy the book used, buy two, one to keep as a reference and one to cut up for the plates.

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The Yellow Warblers are still being as photogenic as ever.  I can’t stop posting them!

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Pale Male Catches And Eats A Mouse

Warning Graphic Content!  If you’re not interested in seeing a mouse get caught and eaten, you might want to view these pictures of Pale Male from Friday.

Pale Male patiently waited in a tree branch on Sunday evening for supper to arrive near Cleopatra’s Needle.
I was pleased to see the photographers who watch Pale Male regularly, made sure he had an unobstructed flight path to his common hunting areas.
After hunting too fast for me to capture the kill, he jumps up on a low hanging tree branch bringing a few blades of grass along with his prey.
Soon he moves to a higher tree branch.
Soon he moves to a higher tree branch.
He takes about ten minutes to consume the mouse.
At the end, he swallows what’s left in one huge gulp.
He then used a number of tree branches as “toothpicks” to clean his beak.

Sunday Warblers

Central Park had lots of warbler sightings on Sunday, eighteen species and one hybrid.  I had slept in on Sunday and missed photographing all but two species, a Black-and-white and a Yellow.  Luckily, a Yellow Warbler gave me some wonderful poses among some flowers in the Wildflower meadow, so I still had a fun afternoon.

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