An opportunity and another First for Me…visiting a American Kestrel site.
Smallest of the Falcon family these colorful birds are cavity nesters and about ten inches in size. They will use abandoned Pileated and Flicker cavities to nest in. At the time of my visit three young had fledged and the fourth was still in the nest cavity.
With both the Kestrel and Flickers being in the same area…this only meant that little walking was required for photographing both.
The kids are hungry and a meal arrives…Mamma and Papa Wren seem to be doing nonstop feeding as the youngsters grow. It’s unclear as to just how many hungry little mouths they had to feed.
Nothing more than memories now as the young have flew the coop…although the adults and kids can still be heard in and around the bush.
While out-n-about shooting one subject I could hear some distant none stop calling of some sort of bird. The sound being unfamiliar to me and I had no idea as to what was calling but seemed like more than one.
Time to investigate and followed the sounds, then they went silent…then the calling resumed. It took a bit to narrow the sound down but all of a sudden the mystery was solved as I stared at a cavity in a tree. Two heads peered out of the opening as Mamma Flicker came to the tree with food.
This being a first for me as I watched this Northern Flicker family…you just never know what you’re going to stumble across while out-n-about.