Bird of the Week – American Kestrel
The American Kestrel is the smallest North American falcon. This handsome male was keeping an eye on the Georgeson Botanical Garden at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
American Kestrel Male
The male and female Kestrel are strikingly different, the grey wings and smaller size make this a male. WC worries that Kestrels are in decline, at least in Alaska.
Technical stuff: f5.7, 1/800, ISO100
More bird photos at Frozen Feather Images.
That is the most gorgeous kestrel! Thanks, WC. I also have a friend whose parents named her after that lovely bird of prey.
In other news, an X-ray cleared a kestrel in Turkey of charges that it was spying for Israel:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/turkey-clears-bird-fingered-as-israeli-spy/
Don’t you just love him?
From the tip of his toes, to the tip of his tail,
his little birdie beak and his fluffy birdie feathers,
and especially his bright birdie eye
in that blue blue sky
so empty that it’s full
of hopes and dreams and possibilities.
Many thanks, WC.
*adding Kestrel day-dreaming to Moment of Zen folder*
thatcrowwoman
*waving* to you from Colorado, mike 😉
There is a pair that nest in the eaves of the house caddycorner behind us- this is year three. All of us love to have them here, as they keep the rabbit and squirrel populations in check.
Today is the Fourth Annual Grand Mesa Moose Day- on the Western Slope near Grand Junction. Perhaps some of the 1500 population are distant cousins of Bryan…
Waving back at you. Kestrels are mike’s second most numerous bird of prey behind red-tail hawks. I’m guessing yours have better scenery to admire while they preen themselves.Hope your fire season is over with. Keep safe.
Peers that I am here all alone. Excellent photography WC. I rilly appreciate your work and since I am here all by myself,I’m gonna lay it on thick and heavy to all the good people at the Mudflats. Let me know when you have had enough. BTW it was 49 degrees here this morning. Expecting Snowy Owls most any day now.
*waving from the forest a day late, but still early*
Can’t speak for all the good people at the Mudflats, but I can’t imagine a world with too much mike.
If you hear me holler “UNCLE!” you’ll know.
We have at least 3 generations of nesting hawks in the forest now,
and chimney swifts have raised at least 3 nests full of little ones this summer–
we use the chimney in winter, they move in spring-fall.
Several woodpeckers, lots of mockingbirds, and a great abundance of cardinals this year.
Brown thrashers, wrens, mourning doves, crows of course
and the chickens. Lots of fine feathered friends here.
It’s still raining.
Ever see a crow with webbed feet?
We need 24 hours dry so we can get up on our metal roof and repair some leaks before even more of the ceiling falls. Maybe this coming week if the forecast holds up…
Rilly appreciated the rain. Furnace has run several times today already. Probably should shut doors and windows and keep heat inside for Winter. Gonna need more rain soon,hope you are up to the challenge before school starts. Gonna go see what trouble I can find in my garden Enjoy your Summer!
iowa’s only indigenous falcon. Very common around here and fun to watch them hover above pastures and road ditches looking for food. There are nesting Peregrine falcons in some of iowa’s larger cities,but they aren’t native. Had a pair nest in my garden martin house one year. They raised five youngins and kept sparrows away. Beeyooteafull leetle harriers.