Since you are all curious and I'll be happy to share my fortune with others, I'm starting new thread (hope there will be some c&c) where I will post photos of my kestrel family.

So, you know this one


but where did it came from?

1-at first, you need someone like this (male)


2-and someone like this (female)


3-then you get something like this (the eggs)


4-female sits on eggs, sometimes switches with male, and BIG MOTHER IS ALWAYS WATCHING YOU!


5-sometimes she goes away to search for some meal


6-and noone's perfect, sometimes even birds fall


7-just standing


8-sometimes even whole family meets together


9-...and after a month, something beautiful happened


10-after few days, it happened again!


11-they are hungry


12-and here are all together!



thank you for looking and c&c, I appreciate it

Great story...

Cool captures. Two more to hatch. How exciting.
Harsha

That first shot is AWSOME!
- Ken

Great shots!, Nice to see the eggs and baby.

Very nice shots. Do kestrels commonly nest in balcony flower pots?

Very cool!

J

How lucky you are to have this. Wonderful behavioral series.

Tim

That's not fair You got 'em parked in a flower box right in view, you are living the right life! Very very cool, please keep us updated, the shots and story line are just great Glad you are watching over them and enjoying ever bit of it,

Karl

Thank you all for your comments. Nothing special happened so far. I was watching them in time of feeding and I noticed, that mother always feed that older one. Younger was always screaming (just quiet *peep*), very very long time, and screaming was louder and louder (actually it was quiet too, but for such little baby it was pritty loud) and she didn't gave him any piece of death mouse! She gave everything to the older one. I was very upset, it was very unfair. Younger one had to be very hungry and tired. He didn't get anything. But I couldn't do anything. And I don't know why is that and what will happened when the rest will born.

Majo,

you have a wildlife photographer's dream happening on you balcony.

Wonderful.

Congratulations

Lil

ok here are some more photos taken yesterday and today

13+14 - feeding beak to beak


15 - mothers protects her children against direct sunshine (it was really hot and seems they don't like high temperatures - fast breathing, opened beak)


Edited by majo d on Jun 02, 2008 at 06:40 PM GMT

Excellent photos. Quite a nice opportunity. I would guess that by now the parents have acepted your role as photographer & guardian?

But tell me how did you get close enough to get those shots with a 50mm lens? I was guessing at first that you were behind a glass door. But since some of the photos are at right angles to the nest and others parallel to the nest (flower tray), it seems you must have been outside on the balcony? And they let you get that close? Wow. How close did you get to them without glass in between?

On the issue of feeding the chicks: Unfortunately many birds lay eggs based on their early estimate of what the spring food supply will be. If food is not that plentiful, they may feed only one chick rather than divide a short supply.

It's sad to see that. But the parents want at least one chick to survive. Also, I'm not sure how long the egg laying stagger is for your Kestrels but it may be that the other eggs will not hatch. Food supply, weather, health of the parents, their parenting skills and the "as hatched health" of each chick all go to determine how many chicks will survive.

We look forward to more in posts "Your Balcony Nesting Kestrel" photo series.

Very nice shots and story line. My father raised several sets of Kestrels in Garden City NY back when the Hempstead Plains were actually grassy plains. The chicks hatch in the order that the eggs were laid, the first to hatch will be the largest and will be able to shoulder her siblings aside to get food. In years of plenty, and if the parents are experienced (hmmm would an experienced kestrel parent nest in a balcony flowerbox? lol) and good hunters all chicks may survive.

The shading by the mother and panting is typical behavior to protect the chicks. Birds have no sweat glands, and so cannot sweat to cool off. The panting is a means of heat exchange to help mom keep cooler. Some details you might enjoy if you can see them - a baffle inside the nostril that enables breathing during high speed dives (characteristic of falcons), a tiny notch in the bill to help dispatch prey, a clear membrane that can cover the eye during high speed dives. I'm very envious you get to watch them! ps; my father fed his kestrels bits of raw hamburger.

Nice series!! I love kestrels, they are beautiful birds. You have captured their beauty wonderfully, that first shot is killer.

Great series and well documented material, I hope the little one gets his share of food. I noticed in the last post, he was getting some food. Fantastic!

What a great series! Thanks for sharing it.

Thank you all for your comments, I'm really glad you like it. Don't worry, I'll post other photos soon, but for now nothing interesting is going on. Seems that other 2 eggs won't hatch. Mother can't take care of babies and eggs in same time, because eggs and children require different care.
I forget to tell you, in block of flats where I live, there's another nest of kestrels around emergency stairway on 11. floor on balcony (it's same kind of balcony as in my flat, but you can get there only from stairway inside of building, these balcons are on every floor). The nest is...well...pigeons used to live there and there's mess after them. Today I looked there and when mother flies away (she doesn't know me, so she's afraid of me), I saw something wonderful - FOUR babies of kestrel were lying in pigeons excrements but they were very lovely, small and looked healthy.
Lot of pigeons live around in city and I noticed, that my kestrel sometimes feeds chicks with chick of pigeon, not with mouse.

Rodney O wrote:
Excellent photos. Quite a nice opportunity. I would guess that by now the parents have acepted your role as photographer & guardian?

But tell me how did you get close enough to get those shots with a 50mm lens?

I can walk around on balcony without scarring her. She's not afraid of me anymore, sometimes I can even touch her...a little...photos were taken from distance of around 0,5metre, 50/1,4 lens has min. focus distance 45cm and sometimes I had to go further to get them in focus

Guia
Thank you for your explanation, I didn't know these things.
So I'm posting a link for detailed shots - 100% crop of kestrel head, there are some very interesting details, as you described

16

17

18


19-this is me, in the eye

Wow you better give that one a name amazing you can touch the mom.

This whole series of shots are simply amazing, when you consider that these are birds living in the wild! I realize that they are habituated to humans (living in the city), but this is still incredible. I also appreciate all of the background information. Please do keep the posts and information coming. Thanks.

Dave I.

Great series. Good luck with your brood.

Astonishing! Petting a Kestrel, now that is a new one to me. Those close-ups are incredible. Thanks for sharing your story and pics, really cool.

Karl

WOW I cannot believe !!! I envy you, you so lucky

20 - in my hands


don't worry, I was gentle, this photo looks really strange but she is absolutly not afraid of my hand, when I wear glove...without it, she wants to fight my hand

I put piece of meat on my wrist and when she wanted to get it, she had to stand up on my hand..and since then, she's not afraid of it, I may touch her and even I may lift her a bit

Can't wait for the next phase.