On June 8, 2019, I was walking across the Queensboro Bridge from Manhattan to Queens. I was a bit dizzy from having taken the Roosevelt Island Tram not too long before, but I was not to be done in yet. While crossing the Bridge, I noticed an unusual and imposing bird nobly perched on the outside of the span. I thought that it was a hawk, and I took the below picture with my Nikon D40 camera.
It was quite an impressive bird. Unfortunately, I do not have a big zoom lens for that camera, so the bird came out small in the picture.
At the time, I thought that the bird was a hawk. Upon further research and inspection, I think that it was actually a falcon (it is a bit easier to see the color of the bird in the full-size version of the picture). I am not too familiar with hawks and falcons, so this is the first time I had cause to consider the differences in their appearance. While there are known to be both hawks and falcons in New York City, I have not come across either very often.
After retouching the color version of the falcon photo, Victor also posted a black and white version of it.
Although I do enjoy posting pigeon picture content here at The New Leaf Journal, I suppose it was a good thing that there were no pigeons in sight on the bridge when I came across the falcon.