Kessie dines at the Arboretum nursery -03
Female American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) SE sector, Thomson Marsh, Kelowna, BC.
I'd like to point out a couple of things in introducing this series.
1. It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to see an animal being consumed by another. I don't even enjoy watching humans eat meat (which, I enjoy consuming myself)....
2. All creatures need to consume food.
3. Raptors kill other creatures, rodents, insects, and even birds. That's how they've evolved over millions of years. Their prey has evolved, too, so that they are not extirpated by their predators, but live in a natural balance with them. Nature works, indeed, in complex ways....
4. Humans are dentally and otherwise physiologically developed to consume animals as well as plants —we're omnivores.
5. Robins eat fish as well as worms, insects, berries. They are omnivores, too. No one sees robins as voracious killers of living things, although at sometimes robins could be described that way, too.
6. For what it's worth, while kestrels are well-known to kill smaller birds, in going on 8 years of observation of Kessie, I have never once seen her do so. Her diet consists of voles and moles and the occasional large insect. She does not hover and dive; she always comes in on an oblique angle from a perch near the prey.
7. These shots were taken on an overcast day late in the afternoon (4:05 PM). Although my eyesight is now back to normal, I saw only a brief movement as I approached the nursery area. As I drew nearer, however,I was able to spot Kessie on this pole located nearest the nursery fence. It took a moment to see what she was doing. I (manually) set my camera up for low light, then walked up to her, talking to her as usual and took the shots. Unfortunately from a photographer's viewpoint, because I have balance issues, I stumbled briefly and she reacted by flying back to a less accessible pole.
8. The resulting images have been processed with care (many would say 'over-processed'); yes, I know they look more like paintings than photos — and that's okay with me.
9. Humans post images of their meals on social media 'all the time'; what would a kestrel do if she had social media? Whoa! Maybe I'm her social media!
Kessie dines at the Arboretum nursery -03
Female American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) SE sector, Thomson Marsh, Kelowna, BC.
I'd like to point out a couple of things in introducing this series.
1. It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to see an animal being consumed by another. I don't even enjoy watching humans eat meat (which, I enjoy consuming myself)....
2. All creatures need to consume food.
3. Raptors kill other creatures, rodents, insects, and even birds. That's how they've evolved over millions of years. Their prey has evolved, too, so that they are not extirpated by their predators, but live in a natural balance with them. Nature works, indeed, in complex ways....
4. Humans are dentally and otherwise physiologically developed to consume animals as well as plants —we're omnivores.
5. Robins eat fish as well as worms, insects, berries. They are omnivores, too. No one sees robins as voracious killers of living things, although at sometimes robins could be described that way, too.
6. For what it's worth, while kestrels are well-known to kill smaller birds, in going on 8 years of observation of Kessie, I have never once seen her do so. Her diet consists of voles and moles and the occasional large insect. She does not hover and dive; she always comes in on an oblique angle from a perch near the prey.
7. These shots were taken on an overcast day late in the afternoon (4:05 PM). Although my eyesight is now back to normal, I saw only a brief movement as I approached the nursery area. As I drew nearer, however,I was able to spot Kessie on this pole located nearest the nursery fence. It took a moment to see what she was doing. I (manually) set my camera up for low light, then walked up to her, talking to her as usual and took the shots. Unfortunately from a photographer's viewpoint, because I have balance issues, I stumbled briefly and she reacted by flying back to a less accessible pole.
8. The resulting images have been processed with care (many would say 'over-processed'); yes, I know they look more like paintings than photos — and that's okay with me.
9. Humans post images of their meals on social media 'all the time'; what would a kestrel do if she had social media? Whoa! Maybe I'm her social media!