From Steve Gettle
“Eye Contact” - American Kestrel - Howell Nature Center, Howell, MI CC
The intense gaze of our smallest falcon the American Kestrel perched atop a stalk of mullein. This beautiful and relatively common raptor feeds on small rodents and large insects like grasshoppers and beetles.
Good Luck and Good Light! Steve
Image: American Kestrel - Howell Nature Center, Howell, MI CC
Nikon D500, 600mm with 1.4 tele-converter, 1/80th @ f10, ISO 1250, Image cropped 0% for final composition.
Kestrels are remarkably beautiful birds! I’ve had the pleasure to meet a few, and our center has one in our care now. Photos can’t do their plumage justice, and they look great from any angle.
What a gorgeous bird!
They’re very good looking birds, from every angle!
If you haven’t seen one, here’s a person with one for a sense of scale.
I think ours has been released, but when I first saw it outside out of the corner of my eye I thought it was a large woodpecker until I got a solid look at it.