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The low winter sun is murder on the naturalist’s eyes, but whenever I’m heading home and turn the corner onto 5th Avenue I always glance up at the tall antenna tower at 40th Street. A female American Kestrel has been up there at last once a day all winter so far. Anyway, this old TV…

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Horse-chestnut. Conifer. European Beech. (Sluggish at the start of the work-week after a holiday weekend.)

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While we’re overrun with Tufted Titmice, there are definitely fewer Dark-eyed Juncos in my patch this year. Here are two, one individual above and one below:

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And this just in: Happy New Year from the first raptor of 2023, a Coopers high atop the Peregrine perch! (Above and below 7:26 a.m.)

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Three different times over the last month and half, the same tree. This was one of two male American Kestrels seen at the same time. Yup, it’s that Falco linden again! The birds LOVE this perch. And now for some Peregrine… There are some remains of prey on that butcher’s block top.

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On a dark and gloomy day, this distant hawk looked different from the usual. Red-tailed Hawks are the usual Buteos. The adults are of course distinctive with their brick red tails, but ones under a year don’t have this tell-tale tail. While the first two images aren’t particularly good photos, they do tell us a…

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The first rule of Raptor Club is to look at every raptor. Blob in a tree is probably a Red-tailed Hawk. Unless it isn’t, as in this case. Look at those tail stripes! A red vest to go with the pinstripes on the tail. Very debonair is an adult Red-shouldered Hawk. Some polka dots on…

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There’s no mistaking an adult Bald Eagle, even at a distance. Hell, even unfocused… This was over Green-Wood. I hear talk of an adult passing over Prospect Park Lake with some regularity. That was the direction this bird was headed. I was in Prospect Park December 10th, and lookee here: a passing juvenile Bald Eagle.…

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There are some trees that I always look at if I’m near them. I have my patch, the raptors have theirs. Standard small falcon silhouette above. I’ve never seen a Merlin on this tree, so I had to get closer to double-check. American Kestrel male, a regular up there. Here he is again. On another…

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