American Kestrel I

by Dawn Currie

Title

American Kestrel I

Artist

Dawn Currie

Medium

Photograph - Digital

Description

Photographic artwork by Dawn Currie. Portrait of an American Kestrel. Photographed in Titusville, Florida.

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North America's smallest falcon, the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) packs a predator's fierce intensity into its small body. It's one of the most colorful of all raptors: the male's slate-blue head and wings contrast elegantly with his rusty-red back and tail; the female has the same warm reddish on her wings, back, and tail. Hunting for insects and other small prey in open territory, kestrels perch on wires or poles, or hover facing into the wind, flapping and adjusting their long tails to stay in place.

It can be tough being one of the smallest birds of prey. Despite their fierce lifestyle, American Kestrels end up as prey for larger birds such as Northern Goshawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Barn Owls, American Crows, and Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks, as well as rat snakes, corn snakes, and even fire ants.

Kestrels hide surplus kills in grass clumps, tree roots, bushes, fence posts, tree limbs, and cavities, to save the food for lean times or to hide it from thieves.

I have photographed Kestrel throughout central Florida in the winter months. Among my favorite birding locations, I have found Kestrels in Titusville, Viera Wetlands, Treasure Hammock, Vero Beach, and regularly in the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge on the east coast.

Uploaded

January 20th, 2014

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