American Kestrel Close-ups
.
How fortunate for me to see almost daily American Kestrels flying across or sitting on wires, watching over the local farm fields for their next meal.
As soon as you spot one in the distance, they’ve already seen you and quickly take flight. Then it becomes a “can I get a flight shot?” Usually no, they are such super fast falcons. So for me to get a photo of one either perched or in flight is pretty special.
And then it happened. I got lucky, truly lucky. I was on a rural country road, and ahead there sat a male Kestrel up on the wire to my left. He stayed put as I pulled right up alongside and took a dozen shots. He moved twice giving me two profiles.
.
American Kestrel (male)
.
American Kestrel (male)
.
I quickly moved on before I had another vehicle pull up on me, all while the American Kestrel stayed perched. I couldn’t believe it didn’t take flight!
Here’s a crop both photos above to share some close-ups of this little falcon’s gorgeous coloring and cute little face.
.
American Kestrel (male)
.
American Kestrel (male)
.
After having just fulfilled and posted another one of my “Five On The Wire” series, I couldn’t put these shots aside to wait for the next series. I felt this handsome fella deserved his own post right here and now! 😊
.
.
Five On The Wire – #5
.
My folder for my next series of five bird species perched on a wire has been storing shots of four birds for some time, just waiting for bird #5 to make it a post.
.
Loggerhead Shrike
.
European Starlings
.
American Kestrel
.
Red-shouldered Hawk
.
And the fifth bird that was most obliging to complete this post…..
.
House Sparrow
.
.
Backyard Feathered Friends – 10/5/21
.
The next day’s lunch and birding date. This could easily become a habit. 😏
It was a cloudy mid-day and all was quiet for the most part. A Blue Jay stopped for a visit, and for once sat nicely in the open instead of hiding like they do.
.
Blue Jay
.
A Northern Flicker was chasing a female and obliged with a pretty yellow wing-wave on the way by!
.
“Sorry, no time to stop!”
Northern Flicker (male yellow-shafted)
.
His sweetheart was landing in a tree across the creek. I love all that hidden yellow we are lucky to see in flight!
.
Northern Flicker (female yellow-shafted)
.
I spooked a Great Blue Heron into flight who spooked me too. I composed quickly for some shots!
.
Great Blue Heron
.
In the next shot, it looks like the heron had something to say. I’ll take it as, “Gotta go, see you another day!” (my try at a B&W process)
.
Great Blue Heron
.
And then the enormous GBH wing-wave!
.
Great Blue Heron
.
A final bird, one I don’t know for sure the exact species. (Anyone?)
I got these two shots, and there’s not much to show to help ID. So I’ll just let it shine as a pretty bird enjoying life way a-top a tree.
.
(Species unknown)
.
(Species unknown)
.
I’m quickly building some feathered friendships in my backyard. 😊
.
.
Backyard Feathered Friends – 10/4/21
.
Taking lunch to my husband three days ago, with my camera tagging along proved to be a success with seeing and capturing a new lifer for me, the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.
Could it happen again the next day? I had to try! So I told my husband I’d deliver lunch again. 😉
No new bird that day, but there was a nice variety in the 15 minutes I birded.
Heading into our woods to look for the little ones, I heard behind me the distinct loud chattering of Bald Eagles coming from our cove. I quickly about-faced and headed down to the water to look for them instead.
Sure enough, across the creek up in the tree where they like to sit was a pair of Bald Eagles having quite the discussion.
.
Bald Eagles having a discussion
.
When I saw the clue of the left Eagle hop a couple times to the left on its branch, I got ready. There’s going to be a take-off!
Sure enough!
.
Bald Eagle takes flight (far right is blurry image of second Eagle watching the take-off)
.
Bald Eagle
.
Bald Eagle
.
Bald Eagle
.
That was so awesome as I watched it turned right to circle back and head out to the river!
In the next few minutes, four more birds stopped by for a photo session with me.
.
Red-winged Blackbird (male)
.
Blue Jay with a snack
.
Gray Catbird
.
Brown Thrasher
.
That was certainly a lot of fun! So much so, I delivered lunch again the next day! 😊
.
.
Five On The Wing – #15
.
It has been a while since I’ve shared my series of five bird species in flight, and I’ve been building a folder of singles. Time to share five more!
.
Blue Jay
.
Bank Swallow
.
Belted Kingfisher
.
Rock Pigeon
.
American Kestrel
.
.
Least Flycatcher
.
We’ve begun clearing our property where we’ll be building a house next year. My husband told me he was seeing a lot of birds while he’s working; so when I ran over to take him lunch, my camera tagged along. 😊
As I walked back into the trees and thicket, a pretty little bird with a bold white eye-ring flew out and flitted around me from branch to branch, checking me out.
.
Least Flycatcher
.
Least Flycatcher
.
Least Flycatcher
.
.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
.
We’ve begun clearing our property where we’ll be building a house next year. My husband told me he was seeing a lot of birds while he’s working; so when I ran over to take him lunch, my camera tagged along. 😊
As I walked back into the trees and thicket, a pretty little bird with a bold white eye-ring flew out and flitted around me from branch to branch, checking me out.
I just stood still and kept trying to stay with it…..because it sure looked like a new bird to me…..
And it was! Welcome to my bird lifer list #244 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher! 💃🤗😊
.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher – (new lifer #244)
.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
.
Thank you, HJ, for confirming the ID of this flycatcher for me! 👍 😊
.
.
Belted Kingfisher
.
This pretty female Belted Kingfisher sitting on an old post over the marsh at Chesapeake Farms was so focused on watching the water below her, that if she saw me, she didn’t seem to care.
.
Belted Kingfisher (female)
.
The background lighting of the distant trees made for an interesting crop of the above photo, so I’ll share it too. 🙂
.
Belted Kingfisher (female)
.
You can tell this is a female by the red bands on her chest which the male lacks.
.
.
Great Egret Catches A Fish
.
A Great Egret catches a nice fish. Now the trick is getting it down with no hands and arms!
.
.
With a little tongue and beak maneuvering…..
.
.
To line it up….
.
.
And a tip back of the head and a neck stretch…..
.
.
Down the hatch!
.
.
The Great Egret makes it look so easy!
Sometimes after the swallow, they get a little thirsty.
.
.
A nice gulp helps wash everything down nicely.
.
.
Ah, refreshing…..
.
.
And then a figure-8 water shake-off!
.
.
(Photos taken at Chesapeake Farms 9/21/21)
.
.
Great Blue Heron Up In A Tree
.
With the marsh flooded at Chesapeake Farms, I just had to look other places to find birds.
A-ha! I spotted a Great Blue Heron resting up in a tree along the road. I almost missed it as I passed by, s/he blended in so well. Ever so slowly I was able to back up for a couple shots.
.
Bay Photos by Donna 