Whatever Weds. American Kestrel

Posted in birding, Birding in Nevada, Birds of Prey, Photography, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , , , ,

Copyright ©2023 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

This is a Kestrel I saw in December. I’ll show her from the two sides I got to observe her from. It’s a treat to actually get two side views of a bird.

When I first spotted her high in a Cottonwood tree-

Female American Kestrel

They’re one of the smallest birds of prey, but so cute.

Here she is from the other side, with her chest showing.

American Kestrel Female

Fun Facts:

    • Sports fans in some cities get an extra show during night games: kestrels perching on light standards or foul poles, tracking moths and other insects in the powerful stadium light beams and catching these snacks on the wing. Some of their hunting flights have even made it onto TV sports coverage.
    • When nature calls, nestling kestrels back up, raise their tails, and squirt feces onto the walls of the nest cavity. The feces dry on the cavity walls and stay off the nestlings. The nest gets to be a smelly place, with feces on the walls and uneaten parts of small animals on the floor.
    • It can be tough being one of the smallest birds of prey. Despite their fierce lifestyle, American Kestrels end up as prey for larger birds such as Northern Goshawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Barn Owls, American Crows, and Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks, as well as rat snakes, corn snakes, and even fire ants.
    • In winter in many southern parts of the range, female and male American Kestrels use different habitats. Females use the typical open habitat, and males use areas with more trees. This situation appears to be the result of the females migrating south first and establishing winter territories, leaving males to the more wooded areas.
    • Unlike humans, birds can see ultraviolet light. This enables kestrels to make out the trails of urine that voles, a common prey mammal, leave as they run along the ground. Like neon diner signs, these bright paths may highlight the way to a meal—as has been observed in the Eurasian Kestrel, a close relative.
    • Kestrels hide surplus kills in grass clumps, tree roots, bushes, fence posts, tree limbs, and cavities, to save the food for lean times or to hide it from thieves.
    • The oldest American Kestrel was a male and at least 14 years, 8 months old when he was found in Utah in 2001. He was banded in the same state in 1987.

“Like neon diner signs”! 😂 I loved that description.

Fun facts gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends, and visitors!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 500mm| PS CC 25.3.1

more to come…

49 thoughts on “Whatever Weds. American Kestrel”

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  20. I’ve seen Kestrels only a few time, and have photos of only two. I found one dining on what I believe was a baby bird; he was perched in a bare tree rather far away, but at least I have a record of the event. They are cute — and fast! I watched one take off, and it seemed to be the proverbial zero to sixty in about ten feet!

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  21. Those are wonderful shot, Deborah! Not only the bird itself but also the framing and the blue against the white-brown of the kestrel. When I looked up kestrel for a translation in Dutch I also found the name ‘falcon’. Is that the same bird, or is it a more European used name? I loved the information about the bird. Like you I smiled at ‘Like neon diner signs’. Handy to have though! 🙂

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