Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens. Near JFK Airport, this is an oasis for shorebirds and other migrants.
The best bird we saw Monday was a large female peregrine falcon, a hawk that can strike and kill a duck in flight. I saw it fly over the large West Pond twice, trying to spook swimming ducks into taking flight. Marie saw it overhead another time, ten feet above her, gliding slowly for a falcon.
The peregrine is this world's fastest animal - when diving it can go 200 miles per hour.
In Manhattan peregrines nest on bridges, skyscrapers, hospitals and churches. There they mostly dine on city pigeons a la carte.
Marie and I have birded Jamaica Bay over one hundred times and this was our best sighting of a peregrine there.
8 comments:
Serene and beautiful.
Oh, I am so glad that I could discover your blog! I have never been to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge before ... Looks like it's great place to visit!
I enjoy the serenity of this shot. I was in Nome Alaska once when the birders were there. I hadn't realized the intensity of the search until then. I took photos of trumpeter swans on the tundra. They were glorious.
Congratulations on an exciting sighting!I didn't know about the refuge or the peregrine falcon when I lived in NY.
Must be thrilling to see one
(as long as you're not a duck or a pigeon:-))
Beautiful, painterly image. Stunning.
Lovely that you and Marie are out and about enjoying some 'fowl' play.
Jamaica Bay was my backyard in my youth, and what did I know of this sanctuary in my youth? zip
Packing things up, out early in the a.m.
Beautiful landscape shots. I live on a cliff overlooking the Puget Sound with a beach down below and we see eagles perching and soaring right above our cliff and once one sat right on my lower deck--- looking at our koi in our pond. It is nice to see a different side as you are usually in the crush of the subway rush.
I sent that bird to you as a symbol of hope and a token of happiness.
I outsmart myself sometimes.
Lovely pics John. So nice to hear your out enjoying the birds and beauty of our earth.
Keep your eye's peeled for nests! lol
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