Peregrine Prowess

     It was a fire birding day down by the water. Dovekies were being seen in large number inland. Normally a pelagic bird, to see one so close, and IN BROOKLYN would be a really really nice addition to my life list, state list, and year list.

    Prior to this moment in my life, I had only seen a dovekie once, dead, on Jones Beach. Little did I know, this would be a trend for me. 

    Dovekies are very small, they are in the same family as the great auk and let me tell you, spotting them through binoculars is very very hard. They die below the surface and like other alcids, it is believed that they too flap their wings to swim underwater. They are insanely cute, but the colony sounds like a gathering of Salacious B. Crumb's from Star Wars. 

    They are also called little auks. I like this name possibly more than dovekie. Anyway, I finally saw the dovekie, and so did others...

That little bump in this peregrine falcon's talons.
That's the dovekie I saw.
Shocking but also, who am I kidding, I'm in awe. I saw the two local peregrine sitting atop the towers of the Gil Hodges Bridge, they had the perfect spot to scope the action below.
Apparently these birds are quite easy to catch and indigenous people in their nesting range would pluck them from their nests quite easily as a food source and use their skins for clothing.
I suppose out on the high seas they also don't encounter too many peregrines...

It flew off with its prize back to the top of the tower, keeping the great black-backed gulls off its trail as it maneuvered through the air, gained altitude, and made it back to its throne.

    I had planned to bird with some friends today and take along Kestrel. I didn't let this pause our plans. We decided upon Marine Park, wouldn't it be swell if there was a stray dovekie in there? It was mostly quiet, but there were still plenty to see, and the social distanced, masked, outdoor company was nice too.

We were greeted to the marsh by American Wigeon (Male and female), ruddy ducks, gadwall, mallard, and one female hooded merganser.

In addition to this female hooded merganser, there was also a female red-breasted merganser.

And as we got further into the marsh, a familiar face.

It could very likely be one of the falcons from earlier, the Gil Hodges Bridge is easily reached from here and can be seen in the distance.

The dovekie was probably an easy grab for this bird (or its mate), peregrines can catch and kill ducks on the regular. Their speed and power truly is amazing.
So many people walked right past, little did they know the fastest animal in the world was right there, even to be seen with the naked eye.

Seconds after my one friend asked if we get raven here, a common raven appeared and flew right overhead.

We ended our walk with the female hooded merganser preening herself for the night and hopfeully staying safe as we spotted a feral cat nearby.