![\"american-kestrel-2257b-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/american-kestrel-2257b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAs promised, here’s what I now know about the banded male\u00a0American Kestrel\u00a0I photographed on Christmas morning.<\/p>\n
But first a little background for those who didn’t see yesterday’s blog post.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 800,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n I found the bird perched near the north boundary of Farmington Bay WMA in terrible conditions for photography (it was foggy, snowing and fairly dark) but I took a few photos of him anyway. While perched he was scrunched down on the branch so I couldn’t see that he was banded but as he took off his “jewelry” became apparent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 800,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n He was actually banded on both<\/em> legs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A huge crop of the first image above revealed parts of two large white letters on the blue band (on his right leg though in this photo it looks like it might be on his left)\u00a0that I thought might be an N and a B or an N and an E and because I was familiar with HawkWatch International’s American Kestrel\u00a0Study<\/a> I suspected it might be their band. HWI’s headquarters is right here in Salt Lake City and several of those folks are personal friends of mine so I contacted Board of Trustee member Mike Shaw<\/a> to see if my photos and info on this bird were of any interest to their kestrel study. They were.<\/p>\n Mike\u00a0generously shared with me what he knew about this bird. With his permission I’ve quoted him below (I’ve added clarifications within parentheses).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To put this in perspective the Nature Center where this bird was banded last January\u00a0is perhaps half a mile west of where I photographed him 11 months later.<\/p>\n I appreciate this information from Mike immensely. I always report banded birds when I can because that kind of research information can be of value to the conservation of the species but to be honest I also do it because I find it so interesting when I get feedback on the history of the bird. Knowing that kind of information about an individual bird doesn’t happen very often but when it does it kind of makes my relationship with that bird a personal one. And I like that…<\/p>\n The work of HWI is terribly important to raptors and to\u00a0all of us. Their mission is “to conserve our environment through education, long-term monitoring, and scientific research on raptors as indicators of ecosystem health.”<\/p>\n I support HWI at every opportunity and I encourage others to do the same, with them or with other like-minded organizations. Collectively I’m convinced we can<\/em> make a positive difference.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"american-kestrel-2258-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/american-kestrel-2258-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"american-kestrel-2257-huge-crop-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/american-kestrel-2257-huge-crop-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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