In early October, a cat and a man dressed in shades of green emerged out of the still-green leaves along Riverside Park.
Just out walking the cat.
The cat was completely calm and walked well on its long leash, unfazed by Esau the dog and other fascinated canines.
Walking the wall with kitty.
The man said he had started leash-training when the cat was still a kitten. He would head to Riverside Drive at 3 in the morning when the streets were quiet. Days passed, and they stayed out later and later into the morning as the city woke up, until the cat gradually became accustomed to the hustle and bustle of traffic, dogs, people and the rest of the urban hubbub. They are an impressive pair.
The man tries to get the cat to pose for a picture, but it has other plans.
Also on Riverside Drive, well-camouflaged sparrows filled the branches of a baby tree.
A sparrow tree.
Here’s a closer look.
A gathering of sparrows.
We paid a quick visit to the “Forever Wild” section of the park, where migrating warblers and nuthatches abounded.
Esau is forever wild.
Leaving the park, we crossed one of the islands, or medians, of Broadway, where we discovered a tiny corpse.
A tiny corpse on Broadway
We bent to take a closer look. It was a monarch butterfly, looking as beautiful as ever, but with a strange yellow substance coming out of its underside. Are monarch guts bright yellow? I was not able to find any answers to this question, so, my trusty reader, please tell me, if you know.
Monarch butterfly on Broadway.
Further down Broadway, a man sat on a barbershop pony, while talking with a friend.
Just another bit of Broadway.
Over at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, a squirrel hung upside down to gorge on berries.
Upside down at the Cathedral.
We watched the little animal for at least five minutes, during which it remained upside down, calmly reaching for berries with its paws and nibbling away, as if this was its usual position in the world.
Eating berries behind the Cathedral.
Two brightly colored animals walked the grounds of the Cathedral.
Two lovely creatures (well, four, counting the pigeons at the left).
We went back to Riverside Park at dusk, this time descending the steps into the park. A raccoon lounged in the mouth of its den high in the retaining wall.
Raccoon gets ready to start its day at dusk.
A mother gazed at the raccoon, while her child gazed at Esau, tied to the chain link fence.
Raccoons high on the wall; mother and child below.
The sun went down, and the raccoon began its nocturnal prowl with a walk on the wall. Raccoons sometimes walk the wall on all fours.
A walk on the wild side of the wall.
At other times they stand erect, looking like bulky little mannikins edging along a high ledge.
Raccoon does its “man on a ledge” impression.
When it got too dark to follow the raccoon’s progress easily, we went home where Esau took his stuffed dog to bed.
Good-night.
And, ladies and gentlemen: watch closely. Now you see me …
Out walking the dog 