Raptor Wednesday

American Kestrels should start start fledging by the end of the month. This is, I think, the male of the nearby nest I’ve been watching.

A trio of Red-tailed Hawks. I think the one at the top, further up in the sky, is unrelated, checking out the scene.

The two lower ones are, I think, a mated pair, soaring together. There should be nestlings at home now.

I think this is the female. She looks larger.

And here is the male. This one is a known entity: banded, easily recognizable for more than a year by the evidently permanent wing gap.

Here’s this bird two days earlier. Quite grizzled there at the gap. I think this pair nests outside of Green-Wood, somewhere around Industry City, but returns to Green-Wood to hunt (and, earlier this year, to pick up nest making supplies). I think this may be the same pair who unsuccessfully nested in Green-Wood last year (the male bird is from that pair).