Thursday, May 16, 2013

Convent Kestrels

Even more impossible to see than any other raptor if there's a hatch are the kestrels. Without a camera inside the nest, you just cant tell if there are young until they are near fledging. The behavior of birds with young is the only tell-tale way of gauging whether or not there have been hatches. One sure way is watching what is being brought into and out of the nest. Here the male kestrel calls the female to get a young bird. Instead of in my previous kestrel video of the male going into the nest, in this case she flies out to get the food. She then collects it and then flies back into the scrape with out the male. He then follows later. This is a really good sign there's chicks in there. This video also demonstrates the Canon EOS autofocus problem with object (birds) in motion. I have the perfect shot of the male and female together at the scrape, but my camera just wouldnt focus on the action. But you make do with what you have...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

amazing capture on camera of the female!