Don't be like my willow

I remember hearing that willow trees will bend, not break. That may be true of some willows but it is certainly not the case for the large, rather stately weeping willow in my yard. With each wind, it smirks at me and tosses small fronds across the entire yard. In a true storm with wind and rain, all bets are off. Sometimes it makes a mess with fronds strewn everywhere.  Other times, Mother Nature decides it's time for the tree to shed a limb or two. These are typically deposited into a yard: sometimes mine, sometimes a neighbor's. Sometime M.N. gets a chuckle out of spiking one end of a limb into the ground while resting the other on a power line. Such is the case today. I think the whole "bend, not break" thing is a hoax. Either that or I have a very special willow, one complete with a sense of humor.

A different kind of Father's Day movie

With many thanks to PBS and a "Nature" re-run, I finally saw the short documentary called "Pale Male."

I had heard part of the story a while ago when CBS "Sunday Morning" did a segment on the male Red-tailed Hawk who had made his home in Manhattan's Upper East Side for close to ten years. I had even visited Lincoln Karim's site viewing many of the photos that have been added there for over five years. Both were interesting, but the program is so much more.

The show itself is wonderful - telling about Pale Male's unlikely appearance in New York, then weaving in the story of the many New Yorker's who took up the vigil as he mated with his "First Love" and began raising the first of many chicks. He has now out-lived four mates and has sired more than twenty chicks.

He hunts tirelessly to feed his chicks, protects them from marauding flocks of crows, and ultimately entices them out of the nest when it's time for the chicks to learn to fend for themselves. In short, he's a father. And a good one, at that.

The camera work is beautiful, capturing close-up shots of the birds along with beautiful views of the city's skyline and Central Park. We get to know some of the New Yorker's who come together daily to celebrate Pale Male's life. Like them, we watch breathlessly as the first fledgling chick is blown off the nest (150 feet above the nearest tree) and tries to fly. We feel the loss of Pale Male's first mate, and celebrate his devotion to his chicks.

But the real story is this remarkable bird who decided to make a Fifth Avenue co-op near Central Park his home. That this small bird somehow brought together strangers and turned them into friends - well, that's just a bonus.

If you have the opportunity, watch "Pale Male." It's an extraordinary story, purely natural, and a very positive kind of Father's Day tale.