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Kestrel Week IV
A male American Kestrel in Green-Wood. The wide black bar on the tail so nicely fanned below is a good way to ID the male in flight, since the blue wings can’t be seen from below.These are some highlights from the literature: self-explanatory titles edition: “American Kestrel Eating Carrion” “American Kestrel Transports Norway Rat” (“labored…
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Kestrel Week III
Headless Kestrel on Rooftop Bar! They absolutely love old school TV antennas, which still litter the rooftops of Brooklyn, thank goodness. And strange pipes shooting up from rooftops. This is a rare neighborhood appearance by a female. There is no slate blue on her wings and she has more subdued head-patterning. She also doesn’t have…
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Kestrel Week II
A pair of American Kestrels has been cavorting around, all visible from our windows. Here they’re perching on a chimney pot (you may recognize it from previous Kestrel and Cooper’s Hawk perching).Male left, female right. I saw a pair — this one or another? — mating in January. March-April is more like it, with May…
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Kestrel Week I
By the power invested in me by myself and the internet, I declare this week to be American Kestrel Week here in Brooklyn! Here’s a male Falco sparverius perched in a London Plane in the ‘hood. Right next to my apartment building, as a matter of fact. Often called North America’s smallest raptor, this colorful…
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Kestrel Week Preview
The view the other morning. The male American Kestrel arrived first. We heard him before we saw him, as has been typical of the last week, when these little falcons have been in the neighborhood every day. The Starlings followed. But then, quick as a flash, the Starlings disappeared.Yes, it suddenly turned into a two-raptor morning.*…
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Bald Eagles Over the Hudson
An hour north of New York City, the Hudson River Valley is absolutely lousy with Bald Eagles. If you’re old enough to remember, this is a radical change from the 1960s-1980s. In 1981, there were no occupied territories [a category that doesn’t even necessarily include breeding pairs] in Connecticut, only one in New Jersey, and…
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After the Smoke Clears
You have to look harder in winter, but your eyes will be rewarded when you do. Here’s a twig of a Smokebush (Cotinus): it’s purpler in real life, especially with the low winter sun hitting it full on. This smokey bush is fairly impenetrable to the eyes in the growing season, making it great cover.…
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Raptor Wednesday
About to ascend the steps of the City Hall subway station, I heard a Peregrine. Or thought I did, anyway: the subterranean is generally not good habitat for falcons. Emerging in the plaza besides the old Tweed Courthouse, I looked all around, raptor-senses tingling. I didn’t hear it again. My eyes did fall on a…
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A Tree for Tuesday
I was circling around St. Michael’s tower in search of the Kestrels that have been frequenting the raptor anvil, as I like to call it, atop the cross up there. These local falcons will be a subject of a future week’s worth of posts. Yes, they have been active! This excursion gave me an opportunity…
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Mammal Monday: Wait, How Many?
Judging from the poop, Green-Wood is over-run with Raccoons (Procyon lotor). They need some coyotes. During the day, you can occasionally see a few way up in a pine or other conifer, sleeping, scratching. Less frequently, you can see a whole family in their swank condo wondering who the hell you are.
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Backyard and Beyond 