![\"american](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/american-kestrel-6350-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe first time I encountered the kestrel she was stoically enduring the cold and falling snow as she perched on an old piece of metal alongside the road.<\/p>\n
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But when I returned 13 minutes later she’d had a successful hunt and was beginning to enjoy her American Pipit meal on another nearby piece of metal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Because feathers are sticky to begin with and that tendency was exacerbated by the wet snow, she had more trouble than usual with them.\u00a0 They stuck to her face and her feet especially.\u00a0\u00a0 Here she’s scratching feathers away from her beak with her right foot.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n After feeding for a while, for some reason she chose to remove the pipit from under her feet and let it\u00a0dangle down precariously\u00a0as she held on to a couple of wing feathers with her beak.\u00a0 That was a mistake…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n because she dropped it into the soft, fluffy snow where it almost disappeared.\u00a0\u00a0 Here she’s looking down at it and trying to figure out what her next move will be.<\/p>\n I tend to notice and appreciate little things in my images.\u00a0\u00a0When flight feathers fall they tend to fall quill end first and that’s exactly what happened here,\u00a0as we can see two of them stuck in the snow vertically as a result.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n She turned around on her perch and then plunged into the snow for the pipit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n She struggled in the snow for several seconds and then turned in a way that suggested that her intention was to return to the original perch with her prey.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n At this point I assumed that she had the pipit grasped in her feet…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n but all she came up with was feathers and\u00a0a face full of snow.\u00a0 She was apparently unable to pull the pipit out of the deep snow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But she was persistent and went down for the bird again, this time grasping it in her beak instead of her feet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n All the while this little drama was playing out there was a nearby air boat warming up (duck hunters) and the noise was deafening so she’d apparently had enough of that and flew off with the pipit to find a quieter perch to enjoy her meal (this is the first time I can recall seeing a kestrel carry prey this large in their beak in flight).<\/p>\n She flew around with the bird for a few moments but every available perch was covered with several inches of soft\u00a0snow and apparently not to her liking.\u00a0\u00a0 She couldn’t\u00a0eat the pipit on the ground for the same reason but she proved her resourcefulness when she found…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n a sheltered nook under an old piece of concrete where she could finish her meal in a quieter and more protected spot.\u00a0 At this point I left so she could eat in peace and when I returned a little while later she was gone.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n