A Great Egret at Turtle Pond

August 2 was a nice day for bird-watching at Turtle Pond. We had a juvenile black-crowned night heron dipping into the water, a sub-adult black-crowned hiding out in the leaves, a starling eating berries, barn swallows flying over the water, mama mallards and their kids, and a beautiful great egret.

Turtle Pond, August 2, 2016.

So in a break from my recent rants about the Yankees and my gushing over the Tompkins Square red-tailed hawks, I bring you a little video showing off the great egret on one lovely early August evening.

I'll post the young black-crowned night herons soon, from Turtle Pond and the Pond at 59th Street. And the starling should provide a nice video. There's a ducklings video in the works, but for now, here are some photos of the egret. 

Memo to Yankees: Get Rid of Cashman!

Those of you who have followed my dissatisfaction with this year's player acquisitions and deacquisitions by the New York Yankees, and those of you who have suffered through some pretty insufferable games at the stadium in the Bronx these past few months, might appreciate YANKS TRADE STAR PLAYERS, KEEP DUD G.M., by Murray Chass, a former New York Times sportswriter. On this I think he is spot-on. If the Yankees have any hope of getting my complete devotion back, they really must get rid of Brian Cashman. Dud G.M., indeed!

Yankee Stadium, June 11, 2016.

I keep hearing how the Yankees traded Andrew Miller for prospects that will build the team in the future. As I've noted before, there are still about two months more of baseball left this year (for the Yankees, that is), and I haven't been enjoying the games recently. I have posted my remaining tickets for sale. So far, no bites (I'm not taking a loss, so won't discount below what I paid for them). So I do resent the abandonment of the current licensees for some unknowable "future" team. And if Cashman behaves as he has in the past, he will trade many of these great "prospects" in the off-season for more has-been players. My prediction, agree or not as you believe.

My sales rep says that I will be letting him down if I don't renew my season tickets. Ah, well, never knew it was my duty to keep my rep happy, but if so, so long, farewell, and goodbye. I imagine I will be buying single tickets here and there next year, at a discount whenever possible.

By the way, I actually enjoyed the Mets-Yankees game last night. I figured I'd mention that, since I've been whining so much recently. I don't expect I'll enjoy that many more games, but since I haven't been able to sell my tickets so far, I imagine I'll be hanging out in the Bronx more days than not. I'll be there tonight, for the last Mets-Yankees game of the season.

I intend to cheer for Andrew Miller if he comes in to pitch for Cleveland this weekend. The two photos below are from the game on July 22, when he pitched against San Francisco as a Yankee (I saw him in the stadium the last time as a Yankee on July 23, but didn't take photos).

A rainbow over Yankee Stadium on June 11.

I have enjoyed several double rainbows at Yankee Stadium over the years. Unfortunately, they don't occur all that often, and rarely predict that the Yankees have a pot of gold at the end of the rainbows. And I do understand that in order to see the rainbows, you often have to survive the storms. I hope the current storm passes quickly. I'd like more rainbows.

A Hawk, a Stick and a Couple of Leaves

So, what's better than a Yankees game? Right now, almost everything. But on July 24, it was chasing the hawks in Tompkins Square Park.

July 24 was actually a quite fun time in the Bronx, where the Yankees beat the San Francisco Giants that afternoon, 5-2, and I was able to stay the whole game since Chad Green closed it out. But after the game, I rushed on the 4 train down to Tompkins Square and immediately found one of the three red-tailed hawk babies cooling off in the sprayers behind the bathrooms and a second one in a nearby tree.

There were lots as paparazzi as the youngster entertained us for quite a while, playing with a stick and later with a leaf. 

A young hawk and a stick — the best toy ever!

I'm not sure if we saw all three young hawks that day, or two, but the video — very long, but skip around, the fountain activity is at the beginning — captures the bather, a trip to a nearby building to peek in a window, another baby in a tree, and lots of chasing of leaves and squirrels.

The video, Part IX of the July With the Tompkins Square Hawks series I've put on YouTube, is below. I included Part V on the dry ice blog posting, and I'm still working on Parts VI and VII. Since July is now officially over, I will be finishing up the series soon.

The photos below are from one of the best hawk-chasing days this summer.