American Kestrel - male

[AgingEyes]

Finally got a chance to photograph an American Kestrel.








Not the best flight shots for sure and definitely not the best perspective for shooting a kestrel in flight, but some of what I have so far:






This's the reason I want to photograph the kestrel, i.e., the colors.




Thanks for looking!

PS In case you're wondering: 200-400 hand-held; manual exposure mode; cropped.

[mjs1973]

They are all very nice, but that last one is really great. The light, the color, the BG and the natural perch really set this image apart from the others for me. This is the one bird that I have been after for years, and have yet to get a good shot of. Whenever I see kestrels, they are almost always sitting on a made made structure. I have yet to get a shot of one sitting on something natural...

[OldClicker]

I thought the first four were really good until I got to the last one. Just excellent! - TF

[Singletracklovr]

Simply spectacular. Thanks for making my morning.

[Canon_Bob]

Great series on a very difficult species to photograph!

[AgingEyes]

Thank you folks !

I'm not as experienced as most of you here, but from the responses I've got, it does suggest it's hard to find an american kestrel at a good spot. No wonder the local photogs are so excited. And rumor has it that the first guy who found the kestrel was unwilling to reveal the exact location of it.


Here's another flight shot of the same kestrel:

[mattbikeboy]

I love the last shot in the top post --awesome!! I wish I had cool birds like that around my neighborhood. When I was a kid we had a Kestrel nest in our eves and I got a few pics (but who knows were those shots are 25 years later).

mbb

[paulnj]

All are very impressive images, but that last one in the first post is breathe taking!

[Shebang]

Ditto the comments re #5. Very cool how your backgrounds color mimic the bird colors.

[Rivman]

. . . very nice series AE, they are all 'keepers', well done ! :thumbsup:

[Knight]

Love them all AA but the last one is Superb