Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Raptor Wednesday

Other American Kestrels. Six or seven blocks away from home as the falcon flies is Green-Wood Cemetery. From one corner of the cemetery, you can see the top corner of my apartment building, so naturally I wonder if the #BrooklynKestrels pair have hunted there.This is a male I saw recently in Green-Wood, above Sylvan Water. He had just captured a very small bird. I think it may have been a Golden-crowned Kinglet, because I had just spotted a couple of them.  And the kestrel zoomed by me right after that, heading up to this perch, where he rather quickly devoured the prey.I don’t think this is our neighbor, however. I’m not a 100% positive, but his black chest spots definitely look larger.

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