The local male American Kestrel. He’s working like a dog now that there must be nestlings in the hole in the cornice where the nest is.
These photos, from Sunday morning, document him hunting and eating insects.
From the size and color, I’d say roaches or waterbugs that he was grabbing off a couple of rooftops across the street. He used a pair of dish antennae as perches to eat.
There aren’t many bites in even a large insect. Especially considering the crunchy chitinous exterior. A bit of that being dropped here.
Some quick cleaning of his toes and a few strops of his bill on the edge of the dish before his next sortie.
Less then ten minutes later, he was on the nearby TV antenna calling out in that trilling purr he uses to signal fresh meat for the female in the nest nearby. He’d killed a bird for brunch.
Yuck! Waterbugs! I’d rather starve.
American Kestrels are a most ingenious and adaptable species. I had opportunity to observe the no longer extant nest on 25th Street for several years. See http://www.linnaeannewyork.org for newsletters describing some of their activities in the first decade of this century.
It’s really amazing how they take to the city.