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A neighbor seeing me take photos said Peregrines on this church bell-tower cross in Windsor Terrace were a common sight. I don’t pass by here frequently, but I might have to now, especially since a pair of Ps were around last breeding season. She said plucked feathers were often floating down into her backyard.

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Last Sunday was an epic day for the Brooklyn Raptor Observatory. From the forth floor, I spotted a Merlin and a Cooper’s Hawk during the morning. That’s the Coop above; no pic for the Merlin. Then, over a 3.5 hour walk, I spotted a Peregrine eating atop a Windsor Terrace church. An American Kestrel flying…

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Common on Prospect Park Lake, but uncommon on Green-Wood’s ponds. These two were on the cemetery’s Sylvan Water for at least three days recently.

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L.C. Tiffany’s lamps are beyond famous, but did you know his firm also made headstones? There are some 60 in Green-Wood Cemetery, which also happens to be where Tiffany and family members are buried. I think people may be surprised about the Tiffany plot. There’s no mausoleum; no stained glass, just some rather simple, elegant…

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Mallards are one of our biggest ducks. Occasionally, Sylvan Water gets some other waterfowl. Behold the many manifestations of a male Hooded Merganser:

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One bird you are guaranteed to run across, even this winter, is the Northern Mockingbird. They’ll be giving you the eye.

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A close view and a sunny day, that’s what makes for the best urban raptor-viewing.

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