Is this an American Kestral.......

[joayne]

First off I apologize for these OOF, Noisy, Grainy images..I don't have proper glass for these long shots. Well, the fact that it was the middle of the day which is bright and very sunny and 105 degrees.

We are having a discussion about the identity of these birds. There are at least 3 nesting pairs with very close range of each other, so there is lots of bickering and display. They are a bit larger than the mourning doves, but one of these raptors took a dove right of the telephone wire!

So are they American Kestrals?



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[joayne]

One more poor photo :p


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[ngannet]

Not bad at all, and you have the ID right. That is such a beautiful little falcon and harder than hell to get close to as they are always out in the open...on wires!

[Paul A]

Nice shots, it would be great if you could get on the other side of him or at a different time of day to get direct light. Bob is right they are tough to get so maybe this fellow is used to people and would let you try again.

[joayne]

Actually, he is on the wire now, but I don't think my neighbors will appreciate crawling over the walls :rolleyes:
So thanks for the ID. But, like I said the images are pretty awful. I don't have enough length to even be trying to catch birds, unless they land on me, and I don't think this one will any time soon.

Thanks for looking and answering my question..cheers.

[canondslruser]

First off I apologize for these OOF, Noisy, Grainy images..I don't have proper glass for these long shots. Well, the fact that it was the middle of the day which is bright and very sunny and 105 degrees.

This is most certainly the American Kestrel, one of my favourite birds of prey. They look tiny from far away but for those who have a chance to see one up close they look to be fair-sized especially when they have their wings displayed. The female is larger than the male but one day I saw the male flying head on and it was about to land when it spotted me and did a 180*...in that moment I saw its wings spread out from close up....it looked so much bigger than how I normally see it, perched on some telephone line...what a beautiful bird. Wish I had been in a bird blind so I could have taken a shot of that.

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We are having a discussion about the identity of these birds. There are at least 3 nesting pairs with very close range of each other, so there is lots of bickering and display.
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Oh, please don't tease me :D Three nesting pairs within close approximity? I can imagine the bickering as they're very territorial birds. Pssssst. Where abouts do you live? I'm coming down and camping out with my camera.:lol:

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They are a bit larger than the mourning doves, but one of these raptors took a dove right of the telephone wire! So are they American Kestrals?
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That I got to see! Not that I like to see doves eaten but there are so many of them around and birds of prey do see them as an attractive meal....pigeons too.

These are actually not bad shots and look slike you got close to it. You just need to use some positive Exposure Compensation when shooting into a bright background like the sky (try something like +2/3 to start with). Using a bit of fill-flash helps too.

[joayne]

Thanks canondslruser...those are very kind words. I live in the desert east of Los Angeles. The original pair nested across the street from my house. I watched the chicks as they carefully climbed out on the palm fronds for a look about, as they were getting ready to fledge. The parents moved to nest next door, above my garage. I believe that either the young didn't move too far from home and there is quite a lot of bickering, or others are attracted to the area. I live a stones throw from a wash where we get lots of roadrunners, coyotes, rodents, raccoons, owls, red tailed hawks and whatever other desert denizens.
Thank you again for the kind words.

Cheers

[Elisabeth-Ann]

Yes, they are American Kestrels - I just posted a couple of pics of some that I found in a backyard here in the Bahamas yesterday! Guess they are over here on a package tour! :D Your shots are not that bad - I think you did pretty well!

[Anthony J Howe]

Nice shots joayne. I would be thrilled to get shots of this Kestrel.

[joayne]

Thank you E-A and AJH...I appreciate the comments...Next time I'll run them through PSCS2 and clean them up. After seeing so many high calibar images in the Bird forum, I am a bit embarrassed at posting these, but I won the bet over the type of raptor he is, actually.

Again thank you for you kind comments.

[canondslruser]

Thanks canondslruser...those are very kind words. I live in the desert east of Los Angeles. The original pair nested across the street from my house. I watched the chicks as they carefully climbed out on the palm fronds for a look about, as they were getting ready to fledge. The parents moved to nest next door, above my garage. I believe that either the young didn't move too far from home and there is quite a lot of bickering, or others are attracted to the area. I live a stones throw from a wash where we get lots of roadrunners, coyotes, rodents, raccoons, owls, red tailed hawks and whatever other desert denizens.
Thank you again for the kind words.

Cheers

Sounds like you live in a great place to see that diversity of wildlife. I had the pleasure of watching a nesting pair of American Kestrels last year. They had at least 2 fledged young. The mother Kestrel is very protective of her young youngs and will start an alarm call soon as she spots you from over 100 yards away....good eyesight too (which many raptors have).