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Rainy Day Snack
It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of my favorite subjects: soggy raptors. While most raptors hunker down to the best of their ability in the rain, American Kestrels will happily hunt in light to moderate rains. I assume their small bodies and high metabolisms means they can’t go that long between meals. Or
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American Kestrel Coordination
An American Kestrel who knows how to coordinate with her background. Starting today, I might switch to noting when my raptor subjects *aren’t* wet.
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American Kestrel Tree Topper
An American Kestrel dries out after a break in the rain while scanning a field for bugs and rodents.
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American Kestrel in the Rain
Continuing my obsession with raptors in the rain, this time with North America’s smallest raptor, the American Kestrel. She was hunting from an exposed perch even as the wind picked up and rain started driving. I’ve seen Kestrels out hunting in heavy rain before, but on this occasion she abandoned her hunting perch before getting
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American Kestrel With Prey
An American Kestrel flies to her perch clutching a Jerusalem Cricket. I’ve read on Wikipedia the Jerusalem Crickets are nocturnal, but I regularly see Kestrels pluck one after the other off the ground. They hover for a few minutes, swoop down, bring one back to a perch, devour it, and repeat over and over. If
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Kestrel on a Bush
What a treat for an American Kestrel to let me approach her as she perched on a natural coyote brush perch. I’m usually happy just to get a moment with one of these ferocious little raptors on a fence post before it inevitably takes wing. When she alighted on a nearby bush and then stayed
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American Kestrel To Go Box
American Kestrel carrying prey up to a perch. I was really proud of this photo. I love American Kestrels, but they’re such small and skittish birds. It’s like trying to photograph a sparrow with the fear circle of a Red-Tailed Hawk. I found this one perching on a power line, as they often do. The
