Sunset Park
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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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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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Raptor Wednesday
This fire escape is about one third of the way down the block. In the mornings, Mourning Doves, Starlings, and House Sparrows are wont to huddle here to catch the warming rays of the sun, sheltered from the predominately western wind. When this male American Kestrel appears, everybody else flees. I’ve spotted him up here…
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Boots For Scale
I wear a 9/9.5. These are rabbit prints. There were some other curious prints in the snow on the frozen Bronx River that I could not figure out. No tail, as in a muskrat, and although rather canine-looking, (but too big for fox?) they looked too close together for coyote. Perhaps a cat whose prints,…
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A Return Engagement
The great elm of Sunset Park on a recent wintery day. To track this tree over a year, I photographed it roughly every month from November 2015 to the end of 2016.
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Bark
Street signs. Wrought iron. Chain link. The trees don’t care. They will absorb the things in their way. Here’s a local Empress Tree (Paulownia tomentosa ), pressing through some fencing as the bark alligators in remembrance.
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Raptor Wednesday
Local falcons:American Kestrel. This one was a long avenue block from the Green-Wood linden. The same male, I think, perched atop Sunset Park High School.Another day. Just a few blocks away, atop the tall antenna at 5th/40th. A different male, I think, because of the much greater amount of russet on the breast (not just…
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The One, The Many
In fact, you almost always see Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura) in pairs, year-around.A herd of Rock Doves (Columba livia), not quite as denim-y as they looked that day.
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Raptor Wednesday
Well, hello there! My first sight of this male American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) was a dark shape in a tree. The winter sun is getting so low on the horizon that even at 1:30 in the afternoon every bird with the sun behind it looks like a Starling.Him falcon was mighty obliging, though, allowing me…
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Oak Wilt, Damn It
Word around the corner on the avenue, although of course it should also be in Spanish (as here) and Cantonese. Greenwood Heights is located some twenty blocks away, tucked around Green-Wood Cemetery. There are plenty of oaks in Green-Wood, where the disease may have first been noted, as well as on the street. Here’s a…
Backyard and Beyond 