The Inner Borough from the end of Pier 5 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. This is wide-angle, 24mm lens equivalent on the zoom, approaching fish-eye. The third large building in from the left, with the strong dark verticals, is 55 Water Water Street, an otherwise mediocre pile from the ruinous era of square-foot architecture.
Zoomed in about half way now. The larger row of black squares are not windows, but rather grills, probably part of the HVAC. Look at the square on the farthest left. There’s a tiny something in the corner.
Maxed out at 1200mm on the zoom, across about a half mile of East River. Yup, that’s a Peregrine falcon perched there, besides the box. A “scrape” is a Peregrine nest, just a little indentation in the gravel, if anything, on a protected cliff or building or bridge. No twigs, sticks, fishing line, etc. This one is paparazzi-ready: according to the site, there hasn’t been a pair nesting here since 2011. (Not sure how accurate that is.) Hopefully, this bird on vigil will have or find a mate this year. The white smear, by the way, is telltale, too: that’s old Peregrine droppings.
From a slightly different angle. Two cameras — there’s another inside the scrape itself — are fairly obvious now. As is the light breast and dark back of the bird. Note, too, that upright perch.
The same day, after I walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, I noticed another (perhaps the same?) Peregrine land on the Javits Federal Building at Foley Sq.
Backyard and Beyond 
Great post Matthew. I work close to Brooklyn Bridge Park, so that view of Manhattan is familiar. Hopefully I’ll catch a glimpse of a Peregrine on my lunch break sometime!
Hey, Sean, thank you. You blog is really interesting. I like the sibling aspect of it, too. I’m in BBP quite a bit, so perhaps some day we’ll run into each other.
Glad to hear the peregrines are back on Water Street. I think I remember that building from the ’70s – it was noticeable at night because it had running lights on it that were visible from the promenade. I prefer peregrines, though.