Congratulations to arbitrage for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 3 votes - View Previous Winners
I had heard from some other local photographers that just a day after my visit to the nest the chicks started to fledge out of the nest tree. So the following weekend I hiked to the nest again hoping to have one last chance to see the little ones. I'd read that Kestrels typically spend about 12 days around the nest area and even sleep back in the nest. Also that the parents typically feed them for 12 days or so. I knew it wouldn't be long before they would disperse out and be difficult to impossible to find and photograph. I figured this was my last chance at some shots from this remarkable wildlife photography opportunity.
When I arrived at the top of the mountain after a refreshing 15min straight up hike at 6:30AM, the sun had just peaked over the summit to shine on the nest. Two fledglings were perched on the nest tree in the golden light...I quickly raced to setup my camera lens hoping they wouldn't fly off right away. Just a few seconds after my gear was ready to go, two more flew in and joined their siblings.
The result was the first image below. Two boys, two girls. I probably could have turned around and headed home completely satisfied but of course I stayed and was lucky to capture some more interesting antics as the fledglings moved around the hillside and back and forth to the nest tree.
The most important thing I read about AKs is that they do have a tendency to reuse a successful nest cavity the next year....you can guess where I'll be come June 2021 with fingers crossed!!
1) The four fledglings...
2) There is always one clown in the family...
3) The two girls...
4) Morning preen...
5
6) One of the females looking good on the wing
7) Ditto for one of the boys...
8)
9
10) One of the boys chowing down after mom brought in a lizard
One last fun feeding session....big bro, didn't feel like sharing with lil' sis....he was actually just playing with the lizard until she hopped over....then down the hatch it went fairly quickly...greedy
Terrific set of photos with fascinating behavior. I love the first two, the sibling portraits, and the sibling rivalry at the end with the brother gulping down the lizard to keep his sister from getting a bite.
brian_sp wrote:
hard enough to get close to one of these sob's, here you are on top of a family of them...very nice shots
Thanks Brian...this was a pretty remarkable opportunity as being preoccupied with nesting allowed us to watch them from fairly close without any disturbance to their routine.
