Billy Goat Hill Park

This hilltop park in the Diamond Heights neighborhood has amazing views of the city and bay, and a mix of urban forest and grassland plant communities. American kestrels and other raptors often soar overhead, hunting small mammals and reptiles. As rodents scurry through grasslands, they mark their trails with urine, which absorbs ultraviolet light. Raptors such as kestrels can see UV light, a trait that enables them to track the rodents along these “urine highways” through the grasslands. Smaller rodents such as voles urinate almost continuously, so a kestrel can simply follow the fresh trail directly to its prey.