Other Birds

Blue Grosbeak “Whiskers”

The Blue Grosbeak I photographed on Sunday, had a set of “whiskers” over the inner portion of its beak.  My first guess was that the function of these “whiskers” was that they help the bird position seeds in its beak while husking them.

I’ve done a number of searches on the Internet, to try and learn the scientific name and purpose of these “whiskers” without finding any information.  If you know of a source of information about this anatomical feature, please leave a comment.

Blue Grosbeak Rictal Bristles
Other Birds

Blue Grosbeak

A Blue Grosbeak was discovered on Saturday in the Wildflower Meadow.  I was fortunate to see it and photograph it on Sunday afternoon.

It spend the afternoon eating seed after seed, which it carefully opened with its beak.  It flipped its tail quite frequently and called quite often.   It seemed to enjoying the bounty of the Wildflower Meadow.

Blue Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Central Park’s Mr. October

Pale Male was on a baseball backstop on the Great Lawn when I arrived in the park around 6:00 p.m.  He stayed there for quite awhile before attempting to hunt twice unsuccessfully.  He then moved to a tree north of the Met to roost for the evening.

Update: I received an email from a reader worried about Pale Male’s unsuccessful hunting attempts.  Red-tailed Hawks miss their prey frequently.  So, Pale Male missing a few times doesn’t mean anything is wrong.  Pale Male is doing just fine.

Pale Male, Red-tailed Hawk, Central Park
Pale Male, Red-tailed Hawk, Central Park
Pale Male, Red-tailed Hawk, Central Park
Pale Male, Red-tailed Hawk, Central Park
Pale Male, Red-tailed Hawk, Central Park
Pale Male, Red-tailed Hawk, Central Park
Pale Male, Red-tailed Hawk, Central Park