Sunset Park
-
Monday Kestrels, Of Course
Portrait of an American Kestrel.This is the male of the local pair. He’s missing a ragged chunk of feathers from his breast. Molting? Wear and tear? He’s always been a fierce gnawer when he grooms his front; he has frequently looked double-breasted, with cleavage, for want of a better word, right down the middle. This…
-
Baby Kestrels All Over
The sound was like the alarm sounds the kestrels make when there’s a crow or hawk in the ‘hood, the high, fast, cycling sound, only it continued for a much longer period. I heard it consistently for half an hour, and on and off for a good two hours in total. By the time I…
-
Baby Kestrel(s)!
BREAKING NEWS: far too many humans are horrible Republicans, excuse the redundancy, but that’s not news. What’s news is I caught a glimpse of a near-fledgling American Kestrel in the corner cornice this afternoon!Looks like a male with those spots. He pulled this ribbon, some leftover from the previous (Starling, methinks) occupants of this cornice,…
-
Raptor Wednesday
Chasing crows and being chased by crows, our American Kestrels pause briefly together in the late breeding season. There should be youngsters in the cornice nest, but there’s been no external sign of them with these eyes yet. A very quick search for kestrel cavity nest cams in the US turned up little this season,…
-
Ladybugs
Two Spotted Ladybug, Adalia bipunctata.Wait, there are four spots, or two tiny dots and some squarish sides? This is one of the melanistic forms of the species. First one I’ve seen this year, on a tree in between Third and Forth Avenues. Others seen since. It’s definitely insect season.
-
The Ravens
Two weeks ago, the word went out that a family of five Common Ravens had been spotted near Bush Terminal Park here in Brooklyn. It was nearly a week before I personally saw any bill or feather of them, and then only from afar. These two were so larky I assumed they were two of…
-
Raptor Wednesday
Notice anything on this bare branch of a avian perch, I mean besides a male American Kestrel and some whitewash?Closer… On Monday, you may have been puzzled by my statement about the first living dragonfly seen this year outside my window. Because I’d seen these remains earlier. It’s a dragonfly wing and what looks like…
-
#BrooklynKestrels
Female.Male. He lost one of his middle tail feathers. It was broken more than half way down and hanging at odd angles by a rachis thread for a whole day.Then he had a piece of head fluff coming off the top for most of another day. There have been almost daily Fish Crow/American Kestrel battles.…
-
Raptor Wednesday
The male of the #BrooklynKestrels pair is stashing prey in a rotted-out knot in his favorite perching tree. This photo is through the screen, rain, and foliage. But with those two little songbird feet sticking up like an amateur gangland corpse disposal, you get the drift. Have seen a few bodies cached here since discovering…
Backyard and Beyond 