Kestrel

This male Kestrel (Falco sparverius) made two fruitless passes at the noisy scrum of Monk Parakeets at the Green-Wood gate. The parakeets are a little longer in body-length but have shorter wingspan than these small falcons, so I wonder if they ever succumb to attack. Certainly the parakeets provide food for raptors; I’ve found their scattered feathers under nearby trees. The Merlin I posted about on Monday was in the same area just a few minutes after I saw this bird fire off into the distance.This one was rather higher up than the Merlin, but these shots are still fair-to-middling. Such an interesting pattern (the blue wings tell us it’s a male) compared to other hawks, even it’s genus-siblings the Merlin, Peregrine, and Gyrfalcon. Of course, never mind those other raptors: DNA shows that the falcons, family Falconidae, are related to…parrots. I still automatically go to the hawks when I want to check the falcons in the new Sibley, but he’s properly moved them.