Male kestrels may be a little flashier but females more than hold their own in the beauty department.
1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
Some years ago I took gobs of photos of this female kestrel on her favorite perch at Farmington Bay WMA but this is the only stretching pose I got where she had light in her eye and we could clearly see her face. In most of my shots of her stretching she was looking away from me.
Beyond the interesting pose from a lovely bird I really like the color palette of the photo and the vertical streaks on the perch help to tell her story. Birds are rightly notorious for two things, eating and pooping, and the streaks are evidence of both. The white streak is “whitewash”, mostly uric acid from bird droppings and the red streak is old blood, probably vole blood. She used this perch so often on a daily basis she’s likely responsible for both streaks.
And the blood perfectly matches her rusty colors. The paint departments at Lowes or Home Depot couldn’t have matched those colors more accurately.
Ron
Why I’m posting so many older photos lately:
Readers already know that my pickup was in the shop for two days last week for repairs (two recalls Ford pays for and two fixes I pay for). When I got it back after two days they’d only done one of the repairs (a long story I’m far from happy about.) So my only vehicle spent all day yesterday in the shop again. All four repairs have now been completed but as luck would have it those three “lost days” were about the only sunny mornings we’ve had in more than a week.
So it’s been nine days since I’ve been out shooting and I’m going more than a little stir crazy. After today the short term weather forecast improves significantly so I have realistic hopes of getting out in the field again soon.
Kestrels have such beautiful color, and this photo really makes you focus on that. Thanks for posting. While walking the dog this morning I saw a pair in two trees about 25 yards apart. It’s a gray morning in Fort Collins, so I couldn’t really pick out any color at all – just knew they were both kestrels because of the hunched postures and because one of them has been using the same tree for a few weeks now.
She certainly is a beauty. For some reason we get many more males than females during the winter here in inland south Florida, so I’m always so happy to see one.
Just a lovely bird Ron. Someday I would hope to be luck enough to get my opportunity. My wife and I were in the Grizelys above the Ruby Vally in SW Montana and ran into a bunch of these beauties but unfortunately no one really was willing to cooperated with me. I’m hoping for better luck this coming summer. They are down here in S. Arizona but very few and far between. I have been watching some reviews of the 1DXIII. Decent reviews but wow, Canon wants a bunch for this body!
“Canon wants a bunch for this body”
They sure do, Frank. But it’s a technological wonder in many ways so I guess that’s to be expected.
There’s been a few reports of it freezing up in burst mode but that should be an easy firmware fix and I’m sure Canon will jump right on it.
Beautiful colors and the blue along the top is a nice cool addition matching the birds head.
Despite the overcast it was very good at the island this morning. And a Tenner to boot!
April, we were on the island this morning too. How do we keep missing each other? It’s probably because when I’m looking for birds I’m absolutely oblivious to everything else.
For the edification of others, the “tenner” April referred to is a $10 bill she found on one of the trails.
Absolutely beautiful and those colors are a designers dream!
Thank you, Suzy.
I totally want to call her “clever girl” as in Jurassic Park — I can see the wheels turning even as she fluffs beguilingly. 🙂 I don’t think you could find a more perfect setting for her if you tried.
Marty, I’m trying to recall the context of that line in the movie but without success. I can imagine though…
The warden is referring to the lead female Velociraptor who is the great problem solver.
I had a whole bunch of lessons around Jurassic Park, so I had the kids watching several clips. Same with other movies — GATTACA, Outbreak, Lorenzo’s Oil, Osmosis Jones, etc. Sometimes there’s science gold in them thar videos. 😉
Oh those colours….
Many, many thanks. Off to do my volunteer work in a bit and this splash of beauty is a WONDERFUL start to the day.
I hope that the car fix saga is finally over and wish you many, many excellent days in the field (though selfishness comes into that iwish too).
EC, I know your volunteer work is very stressful so I hope thinking about this lovely lady might help reduce your stress just a little.
amazing shot with fantastic detail Ron!
Charkitte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Ahhh… a beautiful female that matches up to a beautiful male ❤️
Come to find out I was a fan of yours before I knew I was❗️I was loving the way my new iPhone could screenshot. I came across a picture of a Kestrel perched on a tiny stick from 2010 and there’s your name❗️
Cheers to a fan of 10 years😁
Your story made me smile, Diana.
Isn’t she lovely? I’ve long thought about getting a tattoo of a kestrel. I always thought I’d get a male because of their coloration. Now I think a female is more appropriate (and NO, I would not use your photo without your express, written permission. I honor artists’ rights. 😀
Glad to hear it, Arwen. A young lady from New Zealand once used a Short-eared Owl photo of mine for an absolutely huge tattoo on her back and side. She actually sent me cash, New Zealand dollars, in the mail. It’s so hard to convert money around here those dollars will almost certainly never be used. I have no idea why she’d send cash in the mail but I got it.
Beautiful photo and kestrel Ron. I agree that the female kestrel can definitely hold her own in the looks department. We who watch the nesting boxes just got our spring marching orders asking us to start keeping a lookout for activity near and around the areas where we have boxes. Interesting about a photo how sometimes you need the photographer to point things out. My eyes of course pick up the whitewash, but would have missed the dried and faded blood streaks. And of course with any bird of prey there will be blood streaks.
Thanks for posting this very pretty lady.
Oh, and sorry about the truck – Murphy strikes again – nice weather and of course the truck needs to go back
Everett, whitewash always sticks around for quite a while but I was surprised by how long that blood was clearly visible. It was weeks.
Beautiful!!! Love her and the layered background. I as I’m sure all your readers have no objections to your ‘older’ photos! I understand your frustrations but it has to turn around soon…these gray skies can not continue much longer…(even though after 40 degrees for several days we had snow last night.) 🙁
“these gray skies can not continue much longer”
I’m gonna hold you to that, Kathy. If they do you’ll be hearing from me! 🙂