American Kestrels are primarily perch-hunters and they’re quite flexible in their choice of perches.
1/2000. f/8, ISO 500, Canon 40D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
There’s few other birds that I’m aware of that have such a strong penchant for perching on the very tips of narrow, vertical snags or branches. They don’t need much space up there to get a foothold and there tends to be few or no obstructions to block their view in all directions of the hunting area below.
1/3200. f/5.6, ISO 640, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
But the chosen narrow, vertical perch can be almost anything. Here it’s a piece of rebar sticking up out of a piece of very old concrete.
1/4000, f/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited set up or called in
Two days ago while I was at Farmington Bay I was primarily the chauffeur as two close friends photographed birds from the two right-side windows of my pickup. As I drove up on this male kestrel I fired off a couple of quick shots and then turned my pickup to allow the others to photograph the little falcon from their side of my vehicle.
As you can see once again the perch is narrow and vertical but it certainly isn’t a natural snag. Instead it’s…
1/1250, f/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 17-85 @ 85mm, not baited set up or called in
an antenna attached to the back of a hunter’s pickup parked at the 4-way at Farmington. I snapped this shot through my dirty windshield with one of my other cameras while my friends were photographing the bird with their larger lenses. The out of focus vertical dark line at left is my own antenna.
You can clearly see what the Farmington dirt roads do to a clean truck in winter. Mine wasn’t (and still isn’t) looking any better.
1/1250, f/10, ISO 640, Canon 40D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4 tc, not baited set up or called in
The subject of todays post reminded me of this bird (I’ve posted the image before but it seems a natural here so I’ve included it again).
There are two small bridges along the main road going south at Farmington. There’s a tall weather station at the second bridge that is apparently sensitive to the presence of perched birds so refuge personnel have placed two plastic Great Horned Owls at the top of the station in an attempt to keep birds off. You can see how well it works. This little male used to perch habitually on top of one of the owls which I’ve always thought was amusing.
However, not all birds can see through the trickery. I once watched as a very aggressive Peregrine Falcon stooped on and attacked the two plastic owls for over 10 minutes.
It happened long ago, well before I’d developed my long lens technique and the Peregrine was flying at speeds that approached the speed of light so the results aren’t pretty but you get the idea.
Apparently some falcons are smarter than others…
Ron
Hi! awsome photo’s! wonderful job shooting! I am so happy for you being able to do such great shooting. Have a great day!
As always, great photos. And, as always, equally great words. I love your work.
Thank you, Bill. That means a lot.
Ron, pics and stories are wonderful. That first pic 4791 must be an award winning shot. You have perfectly balanced the balancing kestrel within the shot and balanced its fair coloring with the sky and the perch. The bird’s softness and markings are illuminated by the balance. The bird appears to be posing for you. It is sheer perfection.
Thanks, Dianne. Nope, no awards though. The only photo contest I’ve ever entered was at the state fair (once), years ago.
At first I thought the kestrel was perched on your own truck. That would have been a very cheeky bird!
Nope, it wasn’t my truck, Arwen. I’ve had shrikes and juncos perch on it while I was photographing but never a kestrel.
Fun post. And don’t they beautify whatever they perch upon…
They sure do, EC. Even a filthy pickup or a poopy plastic owl.
I had reached the same conclusion that you ended with. Kestrels are definitely smart and that’s one of the things that makes watching them so much fun. I enjoyed all of the perch choices, but my favorite has to be the pick-up truck antenna. That’s even more priceless than the plastic owl.
Glad you enjoyed that one, Susan. His choice of perch surprised me slightly because in all the years I’ve seen many pickups parked in this hunter parking lot this is the first time I’ve seen a kestrel perched on one of their antennas. That said, there’s an antenna at the top of the 4-way weather station and kestrels love to perch there. Go figure…
I really enjoyed those shots!
What little cuties. 🙂
Thanks very much, Suze.
Such agile little raptors, like angels balancing on the head of a pin…. The kestrel perched on the antennae of the hunter’s truck is priceless: “I’ll show you how to hunt!” 😉
“Agile” is their middle name, Chris.
I recently joined this following, thank you for a wonderful collection of images of one of my all time favorites the mighty kestrel. I’ve always thought a kestrel was the perfect Christmas tree topper. I’ll be smiling all day….. your mad skills, obvious love and knowledge of your subjects and gentle humor are always a highlight to my day.
Thank you so much!
Welcome aboard, Victoria. “Christmas tree topper” – I hadn’t thought of that but it’s perfect!
Great shots of these beautiful creatures. I have never seen one. Great visual story as always. You are just amazing!!
Thanks very much, Ellen. But it’s my subjects that occasionally make me look good…
On top of a fake owl, flying toward a fake owl, holding on to a thin antenna, AMAZING! They obviously are a lot smarter then we give them credit. Great shots Ron. Thanks for sharing.
I think they’re pretty darned smart, Dick. Throw in their irascible nature and you have a fascinating bird and a challenging photographic quarry.
Amazing shots Ron! I can never get these little ones except on a wire. :-))
There’s no question that they also like to perch on wires, Charlotte. Like the perches I’ve described here, wires also allow a clean view of the hunting area below. Thank you.