Backyard and Beyond

A male American Kestrel in Green-Wood. The wide black bar on the tail so nicely fanned below is a good way to ID the male in flight, since the blue wings can’t be seen from below.These are some highlights from the literature: self-explanatory titles edition:
“American Kestrel Eating Carrion”
“American Kestrel Transports Norway Rat” (“labored and close-to-ground flight”)
“American Kestrel Attacks Red-cockaded Woodpecker Fledgling”
“Cuckoldry in an American Kestrel Triad” (promiscuity is observed early in breeding season; early copulations are probably a form of foreplay)
“American Kestrel Preys on Least Weasel”
“Carbid Beetle Remains in an American Kestrel Nest”
“Falcon Adenovirus in an American Kestrel” (fatal)
“American Kestrel Rejects Spadefoot Toad”

Yesterday afternoon, the view from the moraine (i.e., our windows).