Dramatis Personae: The Nest Bush Plus Exclusive Narrative

tags: red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, birds, NYC, Central Park, Image of the Day

My good friend, the published author Bob Levy, has sent me eight images that document the lives of a little family of red-winged blackbirds living in Central Park, NYC. These images will appear as the Image of the Day beginning on the 6th of January and running through the 13th of January.

Read below for part one of the essay describing how the birds came to have their name;

The author, Bob Levy, writes ...

One of the themes I explored in Club George: the Diary of a Central Park Bird-watcher was how I became aware that many wild birds in the park have altered their "natural" behaviors to adapt to the unavoidable and often intrusive presence of people. Resident and migrant birds passing over New York City have few high-quality habitat choices and Central Park provides one. Arguably, more than 200 different species routinely make an appearance either in or over the park during the course of a year. Its 843 acres are an oasis on this predominantly concrete and steel island for two-dozen year-round resident species, dozens more seasonal visitors and "stop-over" migrants but the park is a refuge with a catch. Birds often must either cope with human intervention or go elsewhere. Most that stay do their best to keep out of the people's way but some individuals, especially of certain species, do not merely coexist but actually take advantage of their proximity to us. I found a remarkable example of this during my close-up-and-personal observations of a particularly charismatic Red-winged Blackbird dubbed George¹ by his admirers. His breeding territory was on a small pond that is also one of Central Park's more popular scenic destinations. Club George is in large part about my interactions with George, his feathered neighbors and in smaller part about his non-feathered ones throughout a Red-winged Blackbird breeding cycle at the pond.

I'd describe myself as an amateur naturalist who occasionally feels compelled to dive into reference works to help me make sense of various bird behaviors but I did not need an ornithological treatise to know that wild breeding Red-winged Blackbirds are fiercely territorial. As a teenager I found out firsthand how aggressive these birds could be.

While hiking one morning through a bramble-filled vacant lot on my way to Junior High School I suddenly found myself dodging the high-speed aerial assault of two male Red-winged Blackbirds. In recounting this I'm not trying to evoke to the proverbial story about Abe Lincoln hiking several miles a day through the Illinois countryside to get to and from school. The pedestrian explanation is that our suburban school district budget had been widely opposed and bus service was suspended. So in a way I have an austerity budget to thank for my initial Red-winged Blackbird encounter.

I was not a bird-watcher then and [was] completely mystified by the blackbirds' behavior. Years later, more than I care to reveal at this writing, I still remember their piercing calls and the rush of air as one after the other [of] the birds zoomed mere inches over the back of my head. They truly frightened me in part because their seemingly hostile moves and vocalizations were utterly disproportionate to their diminutive size.

After a quick consultation with my Junior High School science teacher, I understood that the birds had been trying to drive me away from a nest that I had unknowingly approached. This not only explained the bird's motivation but also helped me not to take their actions personally, the latter being something I would chronically do as an adolescent where animate or even inanimate objects were involved. So "Hooray" for that still fondly remembered science teacher, Charles Juzek (hoping I have recalled the correct spelling of his last name), who enlightened me.

Fast forwarding to the time [when] I started doing research for Club George: I recall my first stop was the indispensable The Birds of North America: Red-winged Blackbird, No. 184, 1995. What resonated with me most from the opening paragraphs was that Red-winged Blackbirds are one of the most studied of all North American birds, in large part because of those same aggressive behaviors I had witnessed. Even a casual observer at one of the breeding sites could hardly fail to notice the blackbirds' nearly incessant vocalizations or very public and sometimes aggressive interactions with one another or [with] other species.

Contrary to how breeding Red-winged Blackbirds are "normally supposed" to behave, I documented a remarkably different scenario in Club George. Not only did George allow humans to be relatively close to his two mates' nest sites and ultimately to his fledglings, but he also frequently interacted with humans. Somehow, George had "learned" that he could induce people to feed him if he "asked" them to. He accomplished this in a specific way. He would land on a favorite perch atop a bird blind where people, then as now, come to view the pond and, ignoring the signs that read, "do not feed the animals," will drop food to the turtles and ducks gathered in the water below. The bird blind served as a readymade stage from which George performed part of the male Red-winged Blackbird courtship ritual complete with vocalizations and physical display within a yard or so of his human targets. With raised wings and erect epaulets, he walked rapidly along the fence while hollering Red-winged Blackbird courtship calls. His theatrical presentation never failed to grab peoples' attention and often succeeded in prompting them to feed him. In this manner George successfully used the same set of behaviors for courting females of his own species and both sexes of ours but of course, for disparate purposes and results.

That was a few seasons ago, but since my initial encounter with George, I have never lost my fascination or affection for his species. This past breeding season, I observed other "uncharacteristic" behaviors among certain individuals in Central Park's Red-winged Blackbird population. Two are standouts. This pair had staked out a breeding site on a tiny area along the shore of "Hernshead"², which is a small rocky outcropping jutting into the west side of Central Park Lake. Its surface is well worn by the feet of admirers who have enjoyed its panoramic views of the lake and the New York City skyline for over one hundred fifty years.

The public behaviors of these two particular birds were what most attracted me to them. After my first encounter I knew I would be routinely returning to record what I saw. For my notes I needed a way to differentiate them from other Red-winged Blackbirds I was observing at the time. The location itself suggested appropriate names: I dubbed the adult birds Lady and Lord Hernshead.

In characteristic Red-winged Blackbird fashion, the female had built her nest four feet or so above the water [see above image]. It was fastened to a seven or eight foot tall shrub along the shore. Through nest construction, egg incubation and brooding, the adult birds protected their assets in textbook Red-winged Blackbird fashion. Frequently I watched the male and female jointly attack creatures that came near. Two local Common Grackles were their most frequent targets and with good reason: grackles are predators of blackbird nestlings. However, even a meandering American Robin or careless House Sparrow would get similar though proportionally less severe treatment. The male Red-winged Blackbird's alarming calls and raised scarlet epaulets were unmistakable audiovisual warnings for the subjects that aerial attacks might be imminent and they often were.

On more than one drive against a grackle, I watched Lady and Lord Hernshead simultaneously flank an airborne intruder as it hurriedly retreated out over the Lake. In one instance Lord Hernshead body-slammed a fleeing grackle and as both continued hurtling through the air, he jammed both feet into its rump and rode the grackle for several more yards. He looked like a feathered jockey on a panicked runaway. Lord Hernshead maintained his position until the grackle had gone about fifty feet. Only then did both Lord and Lady Hernshead return to the nest site where they immediately adopted a calm demeanor without a hint of the manic activity of a few moments before.

All this was typical Red-winged Blackbird behavior. What was untypical on this and other occasions was that human beings passing within a few feet of the nest site were immune from attack and instead were met only with varying degrees of watchfulness by both Red-winged Blackbird parents. Lady and Lord Hernshead were never as tame as George but they were remarkably tolerant of people and I never saw or heard from other observers that they attempted to drive anyone away.

I took advantage of Lady and Lord Hernshead's behavior to make my observations from increasingly short distances until I was able to remain within four or five feet of the nest site. I could stay there for as long as I chose without provoking a reaction from either adult bird. In my most memorable session I was privileged to watch a behavior I had never before seen or read about.

(End of part one. Part two will appear with tomorrow's Image of the Day)