birds
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Raptor Wednesday
A crop of Cooper’s! These were all seen on the same day recently in Green-Wood. Four sightings, I think of three individual birds, but possibly four. I inadvertently flushed the first (seen in first two photos). It was hiding in an evergreen thicket; I didn’t see the bird until it flew out and landed nearby.…
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Corvus corax
On New Year’s Day, 2015, I saw a pair of Common Ravens at the eastern terminus of 39th St. in Sunset Park. They were canoodling and grooming each other. A mated pair in Brooklyn? When was the last time that happened? Were they here when Europeans arrived? In more recent decades, ravens stuck to remote…
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The Amateurs
The root of the word amateur is the Latin for love. In our hyper-specialized world, “amateur” has become a put-down, which is a shame. The study of birds begun with amateurs. And it’s one of the few contemporary branches of science where amateurs can still regularly rub shoulders, or wings if you prefer, with professionals.…
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Kestrel Week VII
A male American Kestrel in the rain.This London Plane tree across the street has been the scene of near daily Kestrel action. It’s definitely one of the bird’s perching spots. This is where the great battle with the Sharp-shinned Hawk took place, too.Two days later, in the sun. Same tree. This time the bird was…
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Kestrel Week VI
This is a Peregrine on St. Michael’s at 42nd & 4th Avenue.And this is a near approximation of what the church looks like from my apartment. See the Kestrel up there?I’m physically closer to the church for this one because I hurried down the two avenue blocks to confirm the sighting. I hadn’t seen Kestrels…
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Kestrel Week V
This was the first sign of a female Kestrel in the neighborhood. I first saw her January 13th. I’d been seeing males in Green-Wood, on Sunset Park High School, and on the 40th Street antenna, an elaborate, two-pronged structure used by a car service, since December.This is the second of three sightings of a male…
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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…
Backyard and Beyond 