Photographer's Rare Encounter With Roosevelt Island Falcon Deep In Thought On East River Seawall Railing And Perched High Above

Peter Blumen shares these photos and reports on his encounter with a Roosevelt Island Falcon:

I was walking along the east side of Roosevelt Island Sunday and I mistook him for a wooden scarecrow, which we have in California. He was still and sitting atop the RIOC Bus Depot. His stillness, which was probably a hunting tactic, and being a rare site, confused me and I thought he was not real. How could he be a falcon here, an irrational mix. A few steps closer and he twitched and then I had to abandon that premise. He was real and far from home. On top of the bus depot he was safe but still as I got closer he flew off and along the fence that borders the island.

A minute later, I came upon him again and my camera was already out.

I walked quietly and slowly towards him, all the while taking pictures.

And when I stopped about 5 feet away, he continued to look at me, assessing me. I had interrupted his thoughts, he was staring out to the sun and some snapshot hound was pestering him. He was not fond of me and I was apprehensive of him. He looked smaller with his wings folded in, the size of a 1 year old child. At some point he realized there would be no peace with me nearby and even though I had stopped approaching, he had enough of my nuisance, looked upstream for a more secure location, spread to his full 6 foot width,

seeming to fall off his perch until he caught wind, and climbed about 20 feet in a moment.

I saw him once more, but not from so close a distance and he looked down on me, knowing he had the upper hand. I knew I would never be that close again. I wasn’t a threat to him at his new post,

the tip of the boat lowering device at the fire department station. So I took a few more pictures which the reader sees here. A rare encounter indeed.

Looks like Cornell Tech has an interest in birds too.

We can't wait to work more with @CornellBirds thanks to this generous gift: https://t.co/OzSfr0voIe pic.twitter.com/BsLvGuEmXV

— Cornell Tech (@cornell_tech) November 16, 2015

Perhaps when their Roosevelt Island campus opens in 2017, they can study our birds too.

UPDATE 11/18 - Marco Gentile shares these pictures of what may be the same falcon

hanging out on his Roosevelt Island balcony and adds:

we are very grateful she is keeping the pigeons away lol.