Gala Gatherings

New York has always attracted beautiful and flamboyant creatures, all the more visible in spring, when the weather warms up. And the past few days witnessed a particularly high concentration in the Central Park area, creatures costumed in colorful, body-hugging couture, designed to attract attention, a visual announcement of “Here I am! Take a look at this! I am spectacular!” I’m talking about the concentration of Warblers in The Ramble.
 
Oh, and the annual Met Gala took place too, a few blocks north.
 
At 6:15 this morning, I joined my friend, Carl Howard, and a few dozen other birders for the New York Audubon Society’s annual Birdathon, a two-day all-out effort to identify as many bird species as possible in the New York City area. Carl is a master birder who can rattle off a slew of bird songs and recognizes species by their calls. The day before, the group identified 106 species.
 
On my way to the meetup spot in Central Park, I passed by The Mark, a luxury hotel on the corner of Madison and 77th. Although it was 6 a.m., a group of people had gathered outside, with cameras ready. The Mark is not far from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which hosted its annual Gala the night before, an event of utmost fashion splendor, and these folks were hoping to catch a glimpse of a celebrity or two who were spending the night at the hotel following the nearby event.
 
After pausing to ask a few people in the crowd what celebrities they hoped to see I continued making my way into the park until I found another group preparing for rare sightings:  birders, armed with binoculars instead of cameras but equally enthusiastic about the colorfully coutured creatures they were hoping to see.

The Met Gala might have hosted an unusually dense concentration of A-listers, but during spring migration Central Park hosts the most varieties of Warblers on the planet. Like the stars at the Gala drawing attention from adoring fans, they appear garbed in yellow, red, gray, blue, black and white, and many other hues, all designed to attract attention.

Stars! They're just like...birds!