Saturday's Guest Post - The Lovely Tam

Today's Guest Post is by the lovely Tam, from Ottawa, who, if everything goes as planned, I should be meeting in person...right about......NOW!

New York City - Habitat of the Hot Man
Urban Legend or Reality?

As I prepared for my recent trip to New York City, I decided to determine if the legends of the abundance of hot men hiding in the shrubs and the shadows of the subway system of New York were indeed true or if it was merely an urban legend meant to inspire envy in those of us who live elsewhere. I prepared myself with appropriate man-hunting equipment, a trusty camera for documenting the evidence and a six pack of Bud Light for luring them out of their hidey holes and into the sunlight for my examination.

After the first 4 days I became concerned. The vast majority (with a few notable exceptions) of the men I was seeing in my neighborhood or when I was out and about looked like this:

Rather scary indeed. Not quite what I was looking for and the proof of my hot man theory seemed to be swirling right down the NYC sewer system. Perhaps the beer was attracting the wrong type of male. I decided to continue on and try a more subtle approach without the bait. I had faith that I had yet to find the true nesting place of the hot New York men and vowed to pursue my quest further.

Sometime later, I found a few specimens out and about with their winter plumage still intact. The weather had not yet encouraged them to fully shed their winter coats and expose themselves to the spring-like elements. But I knew I was indeed getting closer to my ultimate goal.

Finally on Friday my luck changed in the form of hot weather and a personal assistant with an intimate knowledge of the prey we sought. Enrico joined me in the hunt and like a trusty bloodhound, he lead us straight to the hot man mecca that is Central Park on a sunny day. There we hit pay dirt and found an amazing assortment of creatures, many of whom had shed their winter plumage, and were in full (or at least partial) moult, displaying their forms in all their glory. We attempted to remain unobtrusive while gathering the evidence so as not to spook the delicate creatures and scare them off. Most however seemed to be involved in elaborate mating rituals or shows of dominance with other males and didn’t pay much attention to the unbiased scientific observer such as myself.

During my stay I was also fortunate enough to lure three of the best specimens close enough to touch. That was an amazing experience which bears repeating by myself and others who would like to duplicate my results. It will be a worthwhile effort I promise you.

While New York did appear to have an inordinately high number of the species hotticus manus, with a little effort, you too may be able to track and document the elusive species in your own home town. Good luck to you all in your quest.