Posted on 11/19/2020 10:48:16 AM PST by Red Badger
New Yorkers are so obsessed with Barry the barred owl that some are concerned he could be scared away. So far, he seems to like the attention.
Barry the Barred Owl is New York City’s bird of the moment.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times
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It was late afternoon in the North Woods of Central Park, and the sun was setting fast. Joshua Kristal, a photographer with a penchant for birds, was starting to feel despondent as he searched along the creek, looking for any movement. This was the third time he’d traveled more than an hour from Brooklyn to see Manhattan’s newest celebrity bird: an ethereal and majestic barred owl.
Currently known as Barry, the owl has intense black eyes and elegant poufs of white feathers streaked with brown and gray. He looks like a perfect stuffed animal from a high-end toy store. But Barry is also unusual. Though owls are typically nocturnal, he makes regular daytime appearances, and has become something of a performer. Practically vogueing, he stares, preens and swoops into the shallow stream to wash and flick his feathers. Barry will turn his head 270 degrees right and left and up above to check for his archenemy, the hawk. He plucks chipmunks with his talons and devours them, seemingly unfazed by adoring fans and the paparazzi, many of whom have already made him Instagram-famous.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think it was near Times Square, to be honest.
I’m a hick and had no clue where I was.
I stood at the bottom of the WTC and didn’t even know what it was.
I walked through Central Park at 3 am carrying an expensive camera while he carried the pizza we’d gone out for, only to find we didn’t have enough money for a cab back to the apartment.
Would’ve been 16 blocks unless we took he shortcut through the park so we did.
While we were debating our route back, a Cadillac came flying up the street, the wrong way and did a 90 degree turn into the alley beside the pizza parlor.
There was a loud crash and a hub cap came rolling out into the street in front of us.
Two cops in a cruiser nearby watched it clatter to a stop, shrugged and went back to their food.
That was when we decided to start walking.
:)
Wonder where he got the stuffed owl to take the picture of?
Lol.
That was brave! I would never do that!
Hexta and Island is relatively safe and I wouldn’t walk anywhere at 3:00 a.m. :-)
Ironically we could when we were 14 or 15 without worrying. Times have changed.
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks!
Rats and mice are his favorite foods!........
DeBlowhole and Cumquat better watch their asses.
By the time the liberal bird brained group received approval of the move, The birds were ready to hit the skies and find a new world. For a short period of time the Big Bird would return to the nest and then take off to the unknown. Libs were furious that the city took so long to give the green light.
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Rats and mice are his favorite foods!........
DeBlowhole and Cumquat better watch their asses.
I was in/around Times Square the weekend between Christmas and New Year’s, 1997, when Rudy was running the show. I have to admit, I was impressed.
We have one bruiser of a screech owl living in a tree down here at the bottom of the holler. Caught him one day by surprise - he was sitting on the steering wheel of the riding mower like he was gonna drive off with it, and WOW did he have a wingspan. Built like a little fireplug. The first few times I heard him, I couldn’t identify what it was I was hearing. I’m used to hoot owls. We occasionally see him around dusk, but he’ll come out during the day, too. Kinda nice having deer, owls, and other critters around, very little noise out in the county. But, it’s Alabama - any body of water bigger than a mud puddle usually has a gator in it. But, as long as you leave them alone, they’ll leave you alone. Up to a certain size.
I wasn’t brave, I was STUPID!
:D
When we got back the other guy said “YOU DID WHAT?!?”
I reckon either the denizens thought I was so insane I was dangerous *or* that I was a cop.
I grew up running around in the woods and it was just some other woods, to me.
Or maybe God really does protect fools and drunks...and I was sober.
:)
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks.
The capital city of the world.
yes. :(
It reminds me of the mother talking to Tony Montana in Scarface.
“Why do you have to hurt everything you touch? Why do you have to destroy everything that comes your way?”
Because it’s what they do.
They just wanted to work on NYC, the same magic they worked on San Francisco in the 60s and 70s.
Turn a sophisticated city into a dung heap.
O gosh!!! That tune will be in my head for the rest of the day.
we had as Loon in a small lake- very small- stayed around much of the summer- i got some great photos of it- people thought it was unusually tame- but nope- it was sick and died in the early fall-
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