Octavia, Pale Male’s mate was on one of her favorite perches this morning a window facing the park of a building just south of The Frick Collection at 70th and Fifth Avenue.

The Legend of Pale Male, Frederic Lilien’s wonderful follow up to his PBS Nature episode, will be released on streaming platforms on September 1st for the first time.  For more detail, go to www.thelegendofpalemale.net

As is the usual pattern for the Fifth Avenue Fledglings this time of year, they have roamed north to the areas around the Great Lawn.  Today, one of the fledglings ran me all around from the Hamilton Statue, to the East Pinetum, to the Great Lawn, the two ball fields above the Great Lawn, the West Pinetum including a picnic table, across the 86th Street Transverse to the Bridle Path south of the Reservoir, Seneca Village, and finally the Locust Grove where it caught and ate a pigeon.  What a great day!

One of Pale Male and Octavia’s offspring was enjoying itself south of the Met yesterday afternoon. It didn’t do much but relax on a single tree branch for over an hour.

This was far different from the behavior I witnessed (without a camera) earlier in the week.  A fledgling raided an American Robin nest, eating each of young Robins.  Like father, like fledgling.

The Fifth Avenue fledglings are at that wonderful, playful stage, where they’re learning to hunt.  This means “playing” on the ground and practicing diving runs.  The activity has centered on the south side of the Met, west of the Group of Bears statue.