The point of this blog is to celebrate the wildlife right outside our doors, wherever we are. Sometimes, of course, we don’t even need to leave the house.
I was alerted to those Ravens by vocal Fish Crows (Corvus ossifragus). Here’s one from that morning, on a pole at the back end of the row house across the street. I hear these birds a lot now, most every day. They now breed on Governor’s Island, where we recently heard and saw them constantly overhead . These littoral corvids, who look much like their American Crow cousins but sound distinctively different, also nest on Mill Island. The archipelago is getting very corvid-y.
This month, we’ve spotted American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) across the street at the top of a London Planetree several times. Yesterday was the most recent appearance (these photos are taken through the window screen so are less than stellar). The female is the larger lower bird. Such sexual dimorphism is typical of raptors; although falcons are not as closely related to hawks as was once thought, they share this characteristic.
The male is nicely showing the wide black band at the base of his tail. Earlier this month we watched the pair mate up there. Wasn’t that awfully late in the breeding season? Might they have lost their first brood? Incubation lasts about a month: time enough for a second try? But if so, what are both of them doing out of the nest yesterday? And, of course, one wonders where they are nesting.
Observation breeds questions.
Backyard and Beyond 
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