It was a male Common Yellowthroat. Must have entered through an open door, then ended up flitting against the top level of a two story wall of windows, where I saw it and called the building management. Since it's a migratory songbird, and thus protected by US law and international treaty, you'd think the federal bldg staff would get on it, but their circus operation took a good three hours to get it down. They were using a platform riser, which hadn't been properly charged up, and got stuck halfway between bird and floor. Finally a ladder was summoned, and the passerine was eventually corralled. There was a nice young woman who had had some experience with distressed birds, and we put it in a paper bag and walked it over to a park on the Hudson. It flew into a tree, without so much as a wit-tit-tee of thanks. The next day I saw scads of them in Central Park, but couldn't say that any one was "mine".
That's about a close as I come to keeping pets these days. If you come to NY in May you can hear and see plenty of Warblers. I had 28 this time around, though I didn't hear all of them sing. I learned a little more about the songs, but it's tough. Unless you really live it, and can travel to the right places, the window of opportunity is too short. You need to be immersed in the song, which is best done on the breeding grounds. Recordings just ain't the same. There's a bit of info mixed up in this old thread. I'm sure there's some warbler in your vicinity, and if you go north far enough you'll find lots of them breeding in Canadian forests. The best of the migration is in the east, though.
The migrants have passed through, but it's surprising how many birds you can find in the city, if you look. I'm following a pair of Kestrels that I see near my subway stop on the way to work each morning. They should be nesting, but I haven't seen any proof yet. No question once I get to work, where I can see into a House Finch nest full of chicks on a light fixture right outside my window. At lunch I walk over to another skyscraper with one of several Peregrine Falcon nests around town. They have the birds on a video monitor in the lobby, but it's always better to see them with your own eyes, which can be done from along the East River. Five fledglings are just about ready to start flying. And that's without even mentioning the Park.
Here's a Peregrine webcam, and lots of bird links from Barbolink.
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That's about a close as I come to keeping pets these days. If you come to NY in May you can hear and see plenty of Warblers. I had 28 this time around, though I didn't hear all of them sing. I learned a little more about the songs, but it's tough. Unless you really live it, and can travel to the right places, the window of opportunity is too short. You need to be immersed in the song, which is best done on the breeding grounds. Recordings just ain't the same. There's a bit of info mixed up in this old thread. I'm sure there's some warbler in your vicinity, and if you go north far enough you'll find lots of them breeding in Canadian forests. The best of the migration is in the east, though.
The migrants have passed through, but it's surprising how many birds you can find in the city, if you look. I'm following a pair of Kestrels that I see near my subway stop on the way to work each morning. They should be nesting, but I haven't seen any proof yet. No question once I get to work, where I can see into a House Finch nest full of chicks on a light fixture right outside my window. At lunch I walk over to another skyscraper with one of several Peregrine Falcon nests around town. They have the birds on a video monitor in the lobby, but it's always better to see them with your own eyes, which can be done from along the East River. Five fledglings are just about ready to start flying. And that's without even mentioning the Park.
Here's a Peregrine webcam, and lots of bird links from Barbolink.
- alex 6-15-2001 9:41 pm