The Broadway Bridge Peregrine Falcon family can be difficult to watch, since the bridge has two towers.  This makes it difficult to see everyone at once and figure out how many there are.

Luckily, after a rainstorm early Saturday evening all five could easily be counted and identified.  While I was there one of the parents feed one of the youngsters.  The parents don’t bring the fledglings their food, but instead make them chase them and make them catch the food in mid-flight.  It’s amazing to watch.  (The 1 train prevented me from taking photographs of the feeding unfortunately.)

I went by Riverside Church to see if the resident Peregrine Falcons had any fledglings yet. Since, I only saw the parents, I guess I was a week or two too early.

The parents were fun to watch as they weaved their way between the scaffolding.

Across the street from Zabar’s on the Upper West Side is an American Kestrel scrape. 

I was thrilled to find it because I was able to first identify the bird from two blocks away by looking at its silhouette and wing beat.  The Kestrel, a small falcon, then led me to its scrape (since Kestrel’s don’t build a “nest” but use a hollow, they’re called scrapes).

Most urban hawks and falcons that nest in the city do so near a park.  American Kestrel’s, however are our true urban birds not needing a park.  In New York City, they are everywhere often nesting, like this pair, just under a roof line behind a rusted out decorative eave molding.  They are all up and down Broadway on the west side.

I met James O’Brien up at Broadway Bridge to look at Peregrines and then go off to Inwood Hill Park.   We’re both doing our late winter/early spring check up on our favorite local raptor nests.

We found both Peregrines.  One on the stadium lights of a Columbia University playing field, and the other on the north tower of the bridge.