A Love/Hate Relationship

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I have a love/hate relationship with American Kestrels.  I love these birds because they are so beautiful and because of their amazing abilities.  These tiny falcons — the smallest North American birds of prey — are simply amazing fliers and hunters.  A kestrel is capable of almost mind boggling maneuvers on the wing.  It can fly with blinding speed, It can turn on a dime, It can even hover in place briefly.  Kestrels are also among the fiercest of raptors.  An American Kestrel is about the size of a robin, but inside a kestrel beats the heart of a Peregrine Falcon.  I’ve seen an enraged kestrel attack a Red-tailed Hawk, several times its size, that had the temerity to perch on what the kestrel deemed to be its utility pole.

A kestrel’s beauty is extraordinary.  Unlike most raptors the males and females of this species sport different colors.  The male, shown below, sports blue outer wings and a spotted breast.

The female — equally beautiful — has russet colored outer wings and a streaked breast.

So, what’s there to hate about these beautiful birds?  I hate attempting to photograph them.  Trying to photograph a kestrel can be the biggest exercise in futility that a nature photographer will encounter.  Kestrels love to torment photographers.  They are pros at it.  Driving around rural Arizona, I see American Kestrels often.  They perch on utility wires and poles and sometimes on low trees, shrubs, or fences.  It’s often possible to drive within photography range of a kestrel.  But, 99 times out of a hundred, it will fly the instant it sees a lens poking out of a car window.  It’s uncanny.  These birds have a remarkable talent for avoiding being photographed.  And, they are such damned teases!  I don’t know how many times this has happened to me: I’ll see a kestrel perched somewhere.  It will be in good light and with an attractive background.  I approach the bird in my car, very slowly.  I coast to a stop 15 or 20 feet from the bird.  So far, so good, it’s just sitting there ignoring me.  I’ve rolled down my driver’s side window long before I made my approach and so, I merely need to raise my camera to eye level in order to take a picture.  And, the instant I do — the bird is gone!  My success rate with these birds is well under one percent.  As I’ve said, it’s a love/hate relationship.

Images made with a Canon 5Diii, 400 DO, aperture preferred setting, ISO 500.  The first image shot at f5.6 @ 1/1000. The second image shot at f7.1 @ 1/1000.