Marathon Sunday

Marathon Sunday is the day to avoid Central Park (if you're not a runner). With no particular expectations I went off to Riverside Drive mostly to get the fresh air.

The first stop was at the area where the hawks had built their nest in the spring. A flash of red caught my eye. House finch. How nice. That was different. The autumn colors are gorgeous, but I expected no birds.

Further up the path a squirrel was hugging the side of a tree. I did a double-take. It had something in its mouth. I stared at it. It stared at me. A seed pod! I've seen squirrels eat just about everything, but never these seed pods, the same pods that the cedar waxwings like. Poor undernourished squirrels. All gorging on seedpods. Building up fat for the coming winter.

Now the day was becoming fun. What's next? That's when I spotted a mockingbird and it watched me, a young mocker. It came to the fence and sat and sat and sat. I started talking to it, "I love you", "You're so beautiful", "Pretty bird",..... then I started whistling opera. Mozart. If someone walks along and hears a bird singing "Der Vogelfaenger bin ich ja"...... it's my fault.

By now I was very happy. This was turning into a grand day. I did see the hawks soaring on high. Maybe they'll build a nest near here again. And I saw a gull eating an apple in the river. Gulls will eat anything, but apple bobbing can't be easy for a gull.

The next came as a surprise. I heard . "twee twee", the call of the kinglet. But migration is over. It's November. Obviously nobody told the kinglets, because morning and afternoon I kept seeing them, at least 12, ruby crowned and golden, flitting kinglets gorging on buglets.

I'll post more images in the next couple of days. These are just a few samples of today's joy.

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