I walked into my bedroom around noontime and spied a birds head peeking over the window ledge perched on the air conditioner. A beautiful young sparrowhawk. My window was open and I didn't want it to fly inside so I approached slowly until I realized he/she had disemboweled a sparrow on the cover of my new window air conditioner. Took their lunch and flew off.
Half hour spent cleaning up the gore and the missus in hysterics. Sure was a pretty bird though.
Not my picture. Not enough time to grab a camera. Still, amazing what you see in New York City.
Good story. Next time you are in DC look up. Many years ago the Park Service decided the natural way to deal with too many pigeons pooping on Federal buildings was to attract red tail hawks. They installed nesting boxes, if I'm getting the history right, the rest was up to the birds. I've seen them exploding pigeons in mid-air.
One of the better places to view is from the half moon shaped gallery room inside the Hershorn Museum.
Manhatta is a good book to pick up if you want a view of the ecological importance of the area. I think the author said that if Manhattan had never been settled, it would now be one of the most important natural areas in the country in terms of the animals that live in or pass through the area at some point in their life cycle.
Mrs. Too was addicted to that cam Doug. She literally had one screen devoted to it. LOL I admit being a bit envious of the gorgeous fish they would bring to the nest.
My neighbor is the main ornithologist at the University. He has been working with Osprey along the Clark Fork river for quite a time. They feed their babies fish and only fish from the river or nearby lakes/creeks so scientists can get heavy metal readings on the chicks (blood sample) when they band them. Because Western Montana was a big mining area, there is still some metals leaching into the rivers. Interesting to see where the hot spots are for leaching are found between Missoula and Butte/Anaconda area. We have several nests along the river in town. One of them is occupied by the town favorite Iris. She is the oldest know female alive. Every year we are happy to see the day she returns home. Went to see Paul Simon play at Osprey Stadium one time. (local baseball team) with a nest just off the field. Pretty cool site seeing several Osprey checking out the crowd and the scene below. It is really amazing to see how big of a fish they can carry back to the nest. Thanks for the cool kestrel story.
When I was in my 20s and still going to clubs and bars, I went on a few dates with a girl who was a 25 year old virgin. I'm not sure of the term for girls who choose celibacy as a lifestyle, but she was ahead of the curve. This was the 00s! Anyhoo, we went to a bar in Echo Park (the Bushwick of LA!) and then made out in my car a few blocks from the bar. If you know Echo Park you'll understand that it's quite the intersection between civilization and nature. After making out for 2 hours (cos that's all we did), I woke up at 3am to see a skulk of foxes ramble by from lawn to lawn..in the middle of the fucking city. It was the trippiest juxtaposition of nature and concrete jungle, I've ever experienced.
I live in a block to block garden just shy of 125th street. We get lots of critters here.
We had a Halal live butcher a few blocks away and their security was not so good.
One year we had a beautiful pheasant. I named her Lucy.
Had a few escaped chickens for awhile. But the goat was the great escape artist. It took them weeks to catch him.
Several red tailed hawks and a bald eagle in the Hudson at the end of the street in the wintertime.
A beautiful pair of doves visit me every morning.
And we have 2 men across the street keeping pigeon coops who race them every morning.
Never feel like I am living in the big city here.
Likes: 
Kestrel in Harlem
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