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.