The kestrels are back!
This fierce little guy was at the top of a tree with his mate (I’m not sure whether they’ve started a nest nearby), keeping an eye on other birds (and me). I love them so. 🙂
(The strange white line at left below the kestrel is a strand of spider silk glowing in the morning sunlight!)
Kestrels are one of my favorite birds. I love them so much, “Kestrel” became the name of a beautiful buckskin filly back in 2007 when I started documenting the Spring Creek Basin herd.
Bird photographers will wince at these blurry images of the gorgeous little (female?) falcon I photographed the other day in the basin, while hanging out with a band, but I’ve been seeing more of them, soaring over the budding greasewood and shadscale and newly growing grasses, that I thought they’d serve my purpose of *celebrating wild* very well, indeed.
“The American kestrel, also called the sparrow hawk, is the smallest and most common falcon in North America,” according to Wikipedia. All About Birds says they’re “North America’s littlest falcon” and “pack a predator’s fierce intensity into its small body. It’s one of the most colorful of all raptors.”
And because no post about kestrels is complete without Kestrel …
… From a wonderful shared visit with a friend a couple of lovely evenings ago. 🙂
Kestrel in lovely, almost-sunset light in the Spring Creek arroyo in Spring Creek Basin.
I love the way her golden coat mirrors the golden arroyo wall glowing in the background.
Kestrel and Comanche in the last hint of late light. Golden girl and handsome light mister.
A quote I saw and liked recently: “We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.” ~ Konrad Adenauer
Hollywood leads Madison, Comanche and Kestrel (and the rest of the bands’ members) away from the roller-coaster ridge pond, where they drank at the end of the day.
This horizon from Spring Creek Basin: Unique and much loved. With mustangs in front of that horizon: Heaven under the sky.
Big girl Madison looks back toward daddy Comanche and Hollywood’s band at the purple-mountains-majesty end of day. Mama Kestrel and big sister Juniper graze in the background.
Juniper was a sleepy girl …
… on a lovely, warm spring day …
… and she’s gone. 🙂
Juni down for the count with sister Madison and mama Kestrel. Daddy Comanche was behind them to the right.
What a lovely day. And there’s a blush of green across the hills. As dry as it is, that’s nice to see.
Curious Madison walks past mama Kestrel on a snowy day a couple of weeks ago.
Sunlight and shadow. Mama and daughter. Pretty-pretty.
Comanche brings up the rear of a mix of his and Hollywood’s bands: Juniper, Madison, Kestrel, Temple and Piedra. Pre-dawn a week or so ago.
Kestrel and two of her three girls. Both Juniper (middle) and Madison (left) were sired by Comanche.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 