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Kestrels Continue
A distant view of Nest 2 pair. I hustle over, but before I’m closer one of them flies. I immediately look towards the nest the next block over as the likely place they’re flying to: Yup. It’s the male. Starting a shift on the egg(s). Here’s momma. She’ll get some sun, bathe/groom, eat, maybe chase…
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Kestrel Food
American Kestrels eat small birds, small mammals, small reptiles, large insects like dragonflies and June beetles (adults and larvae), worms… and, frankly, whatever prey they can capture. Locally in Green-Wood Cemetery, they love the introduced Northern Italian Wall Lizards. First of three kills over three consecutive days by what I think is the same female…
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Raptor Wednesday
I’m a long block away, but we can still see what’s happening here. A male Kestrel has captured a lizard and flown it to the nest site. That rotted hole in the square bracket of the cornice on the right is the nest. (Hard to imagine, but adults have flown in and fledglings flown out…
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Kestrels: Eyes on Nesting
A boldly marked male on 6th Avenue exploring a cornice. Three days later, it looks like that cornice hole is occupied. I suppose the Kestrel was angling for nestlings? This female Kestrel was scouting out another hole in this same building’s cornice. This also seems to be a Starling nest. But with both a male…
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Not So Sylvan
Floating in Sylvan Water, a dead Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker. (I don’t know the story before this.) Also nearby in Sylvan Water, a heavy cruiser of a Snapping Turtle. Would the twain meet? Yes. (You wait long enough by the edge of the water…) The turtle gobbled up the breast then took a short break before…
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Seasonal Activities
Nest-building. Staking out territory. (More staking.) Displaying. (Female looks unimpressed….) Shift-change at the nest. Big changes.
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Raptor Wednesday
Osprey are still being spotted over Valley Water in Green-Wood. One recently broke off a stick to fly off to the West Coast (of Brooklyn) for a nest. A couple of Bald Eagles sailing past the apartment, practically at eye-level (4th floor, top of the moraine), one after the other. I’ve got so much Kestrel…
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Backyard and Beyond 