Birds of Prey, Part II

The day after the Red-tailed Hawk kill I documented yesterday, I returned to the scene to see if any more feathers of the prey had come down from the tree. There were these secondaries.

These primaries (flight feathers).

And these unmistakable tail feathers. The Red-tail’s lunch was a male American Kestrel.

Here’s another male, seen the same day I photographed all these feathers. You can see where some of the feathers belong. This live individual looks like one of the youngsters of the nest I monitored during the breeding season. He had at least two male siblings, so the prey might have been one of them. Last I saw of the father, he was molting something fierce, so I don’t think the victim is him; these loose feathers look to be in too new a condition.