A Gray Catbird is on "the pink carpet!" Tuesday's Truths for Week Eighty-Six

As I stated in this past Sunday's post, I  recently encountered a Great Egret for the first time in my long life. This brought the number of new birds I've seen in this Year of the Bird up to ten. 

The other first time meeting of avian creatures that I've seen during this Year of the Bird, include (in alphabetical order) an American Coot, a Bufflehead Duck, a Great Blue Heron, a Northern Pintail, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, a Red-Tailed Hawk, a Red-Winged Black Bird, a Ruddy Duck, and a couple of Wooden Ducks. 

And, now I've met my eleventh bird, who happens to be a Gray Catbird. My encounter with this bird type actually occurred shortly after I saw my first Great Egret, a little over three weeks ago, when I was in Central Park, This creature can be seen in the image atop this entry, he/she seems to be watching me as I watch him/her.

I've mentioned this before, but its worth repeating. In the book series, Words In Our Beak (pictured below), the narrator, Cam, who is a prolific female cardinal, has a term for the activity of birds watching people, she calls this, "people-ing."

VOLUMES ONE AND TWO

The birds featured in her published stories are mostly ones whom she has met when spending her time in my rooftop garden, not the ones who frequent Central Park.

However, in Volume Two, she does include a story about Canadian Geese and their goslings who enjoy the bodies of water in the park. Moreover, after Cam finishes volume three (scheduled to be published this fall), she may "spread her wings" and tell stories of birds who frequent NYC's parks.

In any event, I will tell you a bit more about the Gray Catbird in this blog post. The following photographs feature him/her who looks to be comfortable being in the arms of a Kwanzan Tree.

Additionally, this little bird also took advantage of the lush pink carpet this tree provides when she drops her petals.

According to Wiki, "the Prunus 'Kanzan' (syn. Kwanzan or Sekiyama) is a flowering cherry cultivar. It is a deciduous tree that grows to between 8 and 12 meters high with an 8-metre spread. Young trees have a vase-shaped habit that becomes more spreading into maturity. In spring it produces red buds, opening to 5 cm diameter deep-pink double flowers."

That's it for today, dear reader, but before I leave this post, let me refer you to webpages published by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They have some great information on the Gray Catbird. To access the information, please click here.

ADDENDUM FALL 2018: 

Hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can be found wherever books are sold.

MY BOOK SERIES

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books. Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.