etc.

Yesterday, in PP, I saw a morning dove nest and a swan nest. The swans have been using the same spot behind the ice rink for a few years. I think it's entirely too accessible to stone-throwing shits, but they seem to produce big clutches nonetheless. Also, the peregrine cam at 55 Water St is up and running. There's a scape (peregrines, a species of cliff dwellers, which is why they take to our buildings, don't make nests) that's been used for a number of years. Last year was a bust, the long-time falcon (female) seems to have lost her mate. This year she's back again, with presumably a new tiercel (male), andshe's currently sitting on four eggs; the eyas, as the wee ones are called, are expected by the end of the month.

I was watching a loon diving into Stamford Harbor during lunch, and thinking, the name it goes by in the UK is much more appropriate: great northern diver. When I was in Scotland, the people in my hiking group were excited to see one, and when I saw it, I was unimpressed: oh, you mean a loon. Meanwhile, I was intrigued by their common species, all of which were new to me. So I was watching this great northern diver slip under the water, loosely timing with the one thousand and one method (45 seconds on one dive) when I heard a vaguely familiar pipping sound. Most of the raptors have unimpressive vocalizations. I looked up to see an osprey alight on its nest across the water in Dyke Park. The nest is atop one of those enormous floodlight towers, one of several surrounding a baseball field (looks to be about 3rd base). I can see it from the stairs of the office building I'm in. However, due to the un-bridged arm of the harbor (a marina that turns into an old canal into the heart of the wrong side of the Stammy tracks), I can't really get any closer by foot. Waiting at the train station, I saw a peregrine fly over.

Saturday night I saw The Saragasso Manuscript, a mid-1960s Polish film, at BAM. Essentially a ghost story, hindered by the unappealing lead (laughably claimed as the James Dean of Poland in the PR) and some cheese (metalic nipple covers!), but still a lot of fun. Stories within stories, Calvino and Borges, witches and Moors, at three hours it run for ages more. It's playing for a few more days; you should see it.