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.”

Weekend Kestrels

The female is rarely seen these days. She emerges from the cornice nest and flies up to the London Plane on 41st Street to take food bought up by her mate. Here she briefly perches on the avenue London Plane.It gets gory from here…

The male with prey in the fog.An hour later, the fog had cleared off. This is, I think, the leftovers of the same dead bird. Remember: they cache their food on various local roofs, including, I suspect, mine.

Trying to capture the ticking/purring sound he makes when he’s eating with my hand-held camera.
Note the urban cacophony in the background.

I have a lot of photos like this, since this perch is the favorite. Tiny chickens…

mthew

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6 responses to “Weekend Kestrels”

  1. The Cache | Backyard and Beyond

    […] these bouncing off parked cars when they fall.) This LP is blog-famous because it was the focus of so much American Kestrel activity until its upright branch, used as a mini-falcon perch, was felled in a storm in November […]

    Reply
  2. Kestrels Re-Nest | Backyard and Beyond

    […] Eating. […]

    Reply
  3. Chuck McAlexander

    The hatching of American Kestrels seems to coincide with a period of fledging for House Sparrows. Just when the falcons need a much larger source of protein, there it is. Just fledged house sparrow is fresh meat on the hoof just waiting for harvesting. And harvest they surely do, many times in a day to keep the nestlings( theirs not the sparrow’s) well provisioned.

    Reply
    1. mthew

      House Sparrows are definitely high up on the menu.

      Reply
  4. Chuck McAlexander

    The young stupid ones are easy prey. By late summer they are faster and more wary. Then you can see kestrels catching shucking and eating dragonflies.

    Reply
  5. Woodpecker Haven | Backyard and Beyond

    […] Kestrels. They stashed food in other holes on the branches, and perched upon a bare, straight-up vertical post of a branch, since knocked down in a […]

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