Back in August of 2019, what seems like a hundred years ago, I saw a male American Kestrel fly into the Monk Parakeet nest atop Green-Wood’s Neogothic gate. On October 4th of this year, I saw the same thing. The pictures were slightly better a year ago because the bird actually perched up there. Flying, they’re awfully fast. Here’s a note about American Kestrels roosting in Monk Parakeet colonies in Florida.
The chapel is near the cemetery’s main, Monk-colony, gate. I’ve seen a female up here several times this fall. The cross — which has the misfortune of looking like it has Spanish conquistador helmets carved onto it — is brand new but already bird-stained. Twice now, I’ve seen her swoop down from up there and pick up prey down below. Once it was definitely a grasshopper. Not sure about the second time.
Red-tail airborne. Distinctive feather loss.
Cooper’s hawk.
Cooper’s Hawk, with angry Blue Jay, one of several.
Merlins are being seen again.
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This work by Matthew Wills is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Backyard and Beyond 
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