American Kestrel Taking-off

Here is another image of the “Peace Valley” Kestrel (aka “The Mighty Hunter”). This image was captured in 2017, a year after my first post on Great Bird Pics. I thought it might be interesting to document my experience with this bird. This season I did not capture him with prey, but he was quite active as this image displays. He would land on a perch for a while as he scanned for prey, and then take off for another spot. This image captures one of his take-offs. Note how sparse the spots are on this individual’s chest. Male Kestrels often have more of these, while females have streaks. Curiously, I have not found any cooperative female Kestrels, and consequently, don’t have as many images of them.