Raptor Wednesday

From Gerard Manley Hopkins’ feverish poem, we know that “Windhover” is an old name for the Common Kestrel/Falco tinnunculus because of their characteristic tendency to hover. Above is one hovering over the Nothumberland Coast Path. American Kestrels/Falco sparverius do this as well, although perhaps not as much.

Here’s another Common K, from Falsterbo, Sweden. The church in nearby Skanor was where Kestrel’s Eye was filmed. (My post on that post-facto discovery.)

Ok, back to the American Kestrel and a bit of potty-mouthed bird etymology that I just stumbled upon. In the Middle Ages, and Gerard better stop up his ears here, Kestrels were also known as windfuckers. Fuckwind(e) was a variation. The OED has the usage into the 1600s. It wasn’t an eruption of F-bombing, but rather another medieval meaning of fuck, which meant to beat or push. Windbeater, in short.

Green-Wood Female on the same perch, on different days.

On those same days, I also saw a male on an oak in another corner of Green-Wood. The first day, he flew off to grab a Common Green Darner out of the air. The second day, he came down to the ground to grab something else in the nature of an insect.