From Steve Gettle
“Eye Contact” - American Kestrel - Howell Nature Center, Howell, MI CC
The intense gaze of our smallest falcon the American Kestrel perched atop a stalk of mullein. This beautiful and relatively common raptor feeds on small rodents and large insects like grasshoppers and beetles.
Good Luck and Good Light! Steve
Image: American Kestrel - Howell Nature Center, Howell, MI CC
Nikon D500, 600mm with 1.4 tele-converter, 1/80th @ f10, ISO 1250, Image cropped 0% for final composition.
Kestrels are remarkably beautiful birds! I’ve had the pleasure to meet a few, and our center has one in our care now. Photos can’t do their plumage justice, and they look great from any angle.
I learned about coelacanths in 7th grade biology. I wanted to pick a weird animal to do my project on, and I said what the heck is a coelacanth?!
Then I got to see the preserved one at the Smithsonian about 30 years later. It was the most special thing in the whole museum to me since I felt like I was the only one that knew just how unique and special that thing was.
They are beautiful, fascinating, majestic beings. Also coelacanth is a beautiful word.
Trying to grasp just how long things like that have existed blows my mind the same as when I try to picture size or distance in space. Like how have you not had to change in hundreds of millions of years?!
I like the word once I figured out how to say it! Those were the super early Internet days before we had wikipedias and all that! /yells at cloud
Coelacanths are just evolutionary masterpieces. They have no natural predators, chill out at the bottom of the sea, inedible flesh that makes you sick if you eat them, why would they need to change? They’re perfect.
They’ve got to be doing something right!
I just think it’s so cool they are still here after all this time.
Turtles, crocodilians, sharks, etc have been around about as long, but to my knowledge they’ve all changed a good bit in the last 400ish million years, but coelacanths are still as coelacanthy as ever.