peregrinations

This Saturday is Eagle Fest up at Croton Point Park. A security guard at Green-Wood told me recently he didn't want to identify with bald eagles because they're bald. The misperception comes from the old english word "balde," which means white. The mature birds have the white head and tail, but the juveniles do not. I've only seen juveniles up there, but with this cold, which freezes rivers further north and drives the eagles -- who are mostly fish eaters and scavengers -- south, I'm hoping for more this year.

I’m still on the trail of the so much smaller kestrel. No sign yesterday afternoon at the Promenade post, and the Bluebird reports she didn’t see anything kestrel-wise earlier in the day. Saturday I had a quick view of one over Brooklyn Heights. Like a scimitar, or perhaps a boomerang, with long tail. Yesterday evening, there was one perched on an antenna on Washington St. between Fulton & Gates, an area I’ve seen one since late December. I wanted to check in on that nest I found last July. 253 W15th St in the Inner Borough. It’s a great building:
Some nice sculptural work on the first floor. I like this guy:
On a lark, I’m growing a mustache to win a trip to Budapest, and this is a fine example.
The cornice is elaborate. The nest was on the right (east) side. You can see the hole here. Kestrels, like the other falcons, don’t build stick nests. Peregrines make scrapes, which are just what they sound like. Keep an eye out for the 55 Water Street falconcam to begin the year’s voyeurism. Kestrels go for cavities; for example, old woodpecker holes in the wild, holes in 19th century metal cornices in the urban wild. Didn't see anything this afternoon, but since I was in the area, I went another block west to Ronnybrook at the Chelsea Market and had a chocolate hazelnut milkshake.