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canoes colorés bien rangés en fin de journée à la base nautique de Roquebrune sur Argens dans le Var
I hadn't gotten a good photo of an American Kestrel after three years of seeing them. Now, I was determined, but we all know that determination doesn't get you very far. I was passing this post (never knew that it was specifically for raptors, especially kestrels), and thought I'd park there for a while. The background was nice.
And then I saw ... a flock of sparrows on the grass near the base. A kestrel did show up. "Please let him dive for one." "Please let him land nearby." "Please don't let him perch on the bar!"
Yeah, the power of prayer, indeed!
DNA analysis shows the American kestrel to actually be genetically more closely related to the larger American falcons such as the aplomado,peregrine, and prairie falcons, not the European and African kestrel.
It's often used in falconry for beginners. Oh, great. So does the falconer move up, first a kestrel badge, then a Cooper's, Bald Eagle, California Condor! Well, I'm a little opposed to taming this beautiful bird, but if someone can prove that they can handle a Caracara and keep in in the home, go for it.
30 sec. X 119 @ f4....... = 59 1/2 minutes of star trails..... mixed feelings about this one; it turned-out better than I thought it might, but I feel it could have been better.... the moon was only 15% and setting on the horizon so I tried 1600 ISO..... the frames at the beginning had a lot less noise than those toward the end, when the moon had dipped below the horizon.....
I'm having a difficult day ... period.
That said, I have complained literally for years that I have never been able to get a decent image of an American Kestrel. My memories of my many failures are fresh even though they go back 20 years. Once, I have a female that was perched on a telephone pole in Baskett Slough outside of Salem, Oregon turn her back on me! The nerve! And she kept doing it. What I forgot was that a year later, she or her twin was on the same pole, and with the sun in my eyes, she allowed me 10 seconds.
Yesterday, unable to sit or move, I had some inspiration to look in my 2011 archives again. That was my most productive year in all categories, so much so that I split 2011 into quarters. I remembered finally getting close enough to the "owl perch" (that no owl ever used), and there was a male kestrel on the bar. Sure enough, in March while trudging up Bukthorn Trail off in the valley was a Kestrel, and I had one shot which evidently I made the most of.
The American kestrel (Falco sparverius), also called the sparrow hawk, is the smallest and most common (HAH!) falcon in North America. It has a roughly two-to-one range in size over subspecies and sex, varying in size from about the weight of a blue jay to a mourning dove. It also ranges to South America and is a well-established species that has evolved into 17 subspecies adapted to different environments and habitats throughout the Americas. It exhibits sexual dimorphism in size (females being moderately larger) and plumage, although both sexes have a rufous back with noticeable barring. Its plumage is colorful and attractive, and juveniles are similar in plumage to adults.
The American kestrel usually hunts (grasshoppers, lizartds, voles, mice) in energy-conserving fashion by perching and scanning the ground for prey to ambush, though it also hunts from the air. It sometimes hovers in the air with rapid wing beats while homing in on prey. While it's concerving energy, I have spent more trying to get a kestrel more than any other raptor other than the Northern Harrier which I failed even more miserably trying to capture.
BB 7251 (107251) in "Betón" livery, hauling the Intercités 4657 from Bordeaux Saint-Jean to Marseille Saint-Charles, seen near Névian.
Daar waar de zon voor de meeste Nederlanders deze zondag na lange tijd weer eens uitbundig scheen, pakten donkere luchten zich samen boven de burelen van Prorail. Een handvol wisselstoringen, een onwillige brug bij Zevenbergen, rijp aan de bovenleiding, ze gooiden flink veel roet in de zonnige zondagochtenduren van menig treinreiziger. Ook de dienstdoend omroepcomputerstem was te laat op haar werk en voldeed volkomen aan de hier en daar zo heilig verklaarde zondagsrust. Op station Zevenbergen werden sprinters geschrapt, waardoor reizigers letterlijk in de kou kwamen te staan tijdens de zondagse uurdienst tussen Dordrecht en Roosendaal. Een vervangende bus kwam wel voorrijden, maar verder dan een brul van de chauffeur door de half geopende voordeur of er nog iemand mee moest naar Roosendaal, kwam het niet. OV op z’n smalst, zelfs de meest verstokte treinreizende spoorweghobbyist was op voorhand al met de auto gekomen. Door niet afkomende Eurocity treinen uit België voerde ook in deze dienst wanorde de boventoon. Pas om 14.22 uur vertrok de eerste Eurocity uit Breda naar België. Treinuitval in deze serie is overigens bijna meer regel dan uitzondering, het wil allemaal nog niet zo vlot verlopen als de luxe treinnaam van weleer doet vermoeden. De dienst slaat een pleefiguur en zendt bij Zegge als eerste deze dag trein 9240 in de richting van zijn grote kleine voorbeeld: Manneke Pis. 2 februari 2025