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.
They’re very good looking birds, from every angle!
If you haven’t seen one, here’s a person with one for a sense of scale.
I think ours has been released, but when I first saw it outside out of the corner of my eye I thought it was a large woodpecker until I got a solid look at it.