Lordly Peregrine

Since moving to Sunset Park in late August, I’ve kept an eye out for birds on the top of the local landmark, St. Michael’s RC Church on 4th Avenue at 42nd. The cross on the steeple seems like a perfect perch for raptors, making them the lord of all they survey. For until this century, it was, supposedly, the second highest building in Brooklyn after the Williamsburgh Savings Bank. But until last evening, I hadn’t seen a single bird up there. Seemed like a waste of good architecture. Last night I noticed something not quite right with cross’s silhouette near sunset. Sure enough, the field glasses revealed a bird. The church is two long blocks away, so I had to use all my super birding-powers to get a bead on it. Seeing it in the air confirmed it.

Now, one thing I have noticed here is three flocks of homing or fancy roof-top pigeons over in that area, flying back and forth in the morning and the evening. In the morning, the sun is in front of them (from my perspective), and in the evening, behind them, making for beautiful ballets as they swirl in the air. There’s no way all those tender squab aren’t going to attract some raptors in this town, so I figured it was only a matter of time before a Cooper’s Hawk or Peregrine should end up in the mix of feathers flying there. In fact, last night there were two peregrine in the air, rowing hard back and forth among the lower flock. Neither looked like successful hunters last night, and this one returned to perch up here for a little longer.

*
The architect Raymond F. Almirall designed a rather unique structure for St. M’s, which was completed in 1905. I don’t know of another church in the city like it. The tower is, in the words of the AIA Guide to NYC, a “Sacré-Cœur beehive.” My electrician took one look at it and asked if was a mosque. He’s not my electrician any more, but for other reasons.

***
Like this post? Why not subscribe to this free blog for near-daily nature-in-the-city goodness?