Backyard and Beyond

American Kestrel, urban raptor.This female was keeping a sharp eye on Bush Terminal Park yesterday. She was molting; perhaps she’s a first year bird. There was a nest somewhere in the area, I’m told, and the park has been a reliable location for these, our smallest raptor.She had just eaten something. She dove low for it, disappeared and then returned with her prey in her talons to quickly dispatch it on this perch. It may have been a dragonfly. The bird ultimately flew off towards Sunset Park, and met up with another Kestrel perched on one of the warehouses on 2nd Avenue.