American Kestrels - Small Raptor birds... 7 page report with 10 photographs of a Kestrel family
About American Kestrels, small raptor birds. This 7 page report with 10 pictures contains a previously
not recorded picture scoop of a Kestrel bringing in a Rabbit kill. To be viewed on page 3 &4...
At the end of March 2000, when I was looking to photograph birds in a particular area of Ellis Bay,
MO, in the vicinity of Alton, IL, I parked not too far from a giant dead Sycamore tree. Scanning the
tree’s odd shaped branches, I spotted an American Kestrel (a female, as became clear) some 25
yards from the ground. Since the small raptor didn’t take off, I got intrigued. Tiptoeing I moved
closer for a possible shot. A few minutes later a male arrived, announced by his shrill “klee, klee”...
He brought a prize snack for the pairing. Within half an hour, after the female had ingested the lure,
they mated. From experience I knew that raptors usually mate in close vicinity of a nest location.
I returned every 2 to 3 days in the course of a week and got to observe and photograph their very
brief couplings a few times. The nest revealed itself to be in the same tree. To capture the
unfolding saga, I first had to find a good spot with an unobstructed field of view.
With a healthy tree that might not have been possible...
