Finally, something in these halter-skeleton layers of mind-bending age that I tracked down: Leptaena genus brachiopods. “Common in limestone that formed on shallow continental shelves” now found in “Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian strata worldwide” (Chris and Helen Pellant Fossils: A Photographic Field Guide). Over 70 recognized extinct species per Wikipedia: with a more detail on…

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Holy ancient seabeds, J. Alfred Prufrock! Remember when I stumbled upon some fossils in a rip-rap bulkhead holding the bay in abeyance? Well, here are some more, at another city location. (This archipelago is much stone-girt.) These rocks are even more littered with the detritus of millions of years ago. I haven’t been able to…

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A feather from a Northern Flicker blows around this Cooper’s bill. ~ In case you missed it, I have new Medium piece up on the Davis/Wiener history of L.A. in the Sixties. It’s not about hawks–but the next one will be.

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More hyper-local American Kestrels. These are about a 1/3rd of an avenue block away. They’re acting like it’s April! One avenue block away, several minutes earlier. The female has food here. A few blocks away in Green-Wood… Male chasing a Red-tailed Hawk. On a linden with a view. Red-tailed Hawks and Coopers Hawks perch up…

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From a distance: the large-headed silhouette of a small falcon. This tree on a hill is Merlin country in the winter months, but the last time I saw something up there a few weeks ago it was an American Kestrel. This time, by the time I hustled up closer, the bird was gone. A couple…

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From two long avenue blocks away… hence the muddiness of these images. A Peregrine has been perching of a morning atop Mike’s Spike, not an unusual winter habit for this species. The first image, of a Peregrine in flight, looks like another bird, a juvenile this time; class of ’22. The fifth of five straight…

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Incoming! I was watching a Merlin from some distance and saw it fly off. Merlins may perch hunt, returning to the same perch after a foray. So when this raptor came back to the tree, I assumed it would be the Merlin again. The photos, of course, tell a different story. A mature Accipiter. Reddish…

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Neighborhood American Kestrels. Winter heat inside. frigid temps outside = lens distortions.

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It’s beginning to smell a lot like Raptor-mas! This is the same Red-tailed Hawk in flight, the light playing some changes on looks. This one, born this year, has a full crop and is enjoying some post-prandial sunshine and passing jet noise. Another day, elsewhere in Green-Wood: possibly the same heavily-marked juvenile being harassed by…

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Raptor Week 2022 begins with this dino-soaring Cooper’s continuing to dine on a Northern Flicker.

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