Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Natural connoisseur

I took a couple home after the bars closed, up to 99nth and Madison Avenue. After going around Mount Sinai Hospital to head back downtown on 5th Avenue I saw this thing-

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The size of a cat, but it walked like an untamed savvy creature of the night. Its tail dragged on the ground rather than sticking upwards like a cat's. I thought Maybe it was an opossum, or some other disgusting gigantic version of an urban rat.

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5th Avenue Raccoon

Turns out it was a raccoon. I was so excited to take a close picture, I almost drove into the parked cars to get it. This is officially the most high class wild animal I've ever seen, living in Central Park and searching for grub from one of the finest hospitals in New York, and crossing 5th Avenue no less, to have a pre-dawn snack.

Stranger things have happened when it comes to spotting wildlife in New York. 

There are several Red Tailed Hawks who moved on up to the 5th Avenue rooftops along the park, as well as other neighborhoods with both tall buildings and a relative abundance of greenery. The Hawk has been very successful here, perching itself in trees and sky-rises watching the ground for weak squirrels to prey upon.

But even stranger is the wild turkey. It is best not to look for the wild turkey, you're not going to find it. However, in a less populated section of Central Park I heard it squawking like a fire alarm, never saw it though. And along the unkempt greenery along the Harlem River Drive in Washington Heights as I rode my bike through the overgrown trail, a large bird flew from my right side to my left. I had no clue what it was, and I'm gonna go with the turkey. Perhaps your thinking that I'm kinda dumb, because turkeys don't fly, or, at least, they don't fly too far. But this is New York City, where everyone who moves here, including turkey, needs to adapt to the harsh environment. The New York Times has an article of a wild turkey that visits an apartment regularly on the 28th floor!, this was a while ago, and I don't ride my bike as much now, so I don't know what the turkey situation is anymore.

2 comments:

Eugene Salomon said...

Wow, great shot, you have to be quick to get a shot like that. I've seen racoons a few times myself, both on 5th and CPW. I also saw that coyote (remember that?)that was in Central Park a couple of years ago walking along the stone wall of the park on 5th at 3 am.

NYC taxi photo said...

i vaguely remember hearing about that, yeah, that's crazy!