American Kestrel w/ vole
by Ron Dudley
Certainly not my best image of the species but I thought the way the kestrel is holding the vole and the apparent resignation of the rodent as it calmly awaits its inevitable fate to be interesting enough to post.
We watched this bird take off from this sign post perch, capture the vole and then return to the same perch with the prey. This was taken immediately after it had landed and he was having second thoughts about us being so close while he dined - thus the position of the wings in anticipation of possible takeoff. The vole isn't resting on the top of the post but hanging down behind it. The beak has sort of an unusual texture due to dried blood from a previous meal.
This is a favorite kestrel perch and I've posted other birds using it in the past. The OOF tail was caused by motion blur as he pumped it up and down.
7D, 1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, shot from pickup window on 12-28-09, cropped to 53% of original image and sharpened with no other processing, not baited
Comments/critique appreciated
Comments
26 commentsWonderful photo of this Kestrel with prey. While the lighting was a bit harsh on the breast (washing out some of the finer feather detail) the addition of, and subsequent look on the vole's face more than makes up for it. Great posting though I'd crop off the top and turn this into a pano
- Luke
I am very glad you posted this image, I love how you got a catchlight in the bird's & the vole's eye. Great pose, action, look that we appeared to be getting from the kestrel, the beautiful background and the soft, early morning light. The composition works very well for me as is. The frost on the perch reminds me of colder days.
Great clarity in the Kestrel's eye, and a vole for a bonus!
Congrats!
Clayton
Clayton, Thank you for the comment. Old post perches aren't natural and certainly don't appeal to everyone but I can assure you that there is nothing unnatural or artificial about this background. It is OOF Great Salt Lake wetlands and the Oquirrh mtns in the very far off distance.
Thank you for responding to my comment. I apologise if I offended in any way. I realize photo ops with birds don't always happen the way we like, but we can wish! As far as the background is concerned, I will have to check my monitor calibration. On my monitor it looks like the background is solid white that bleeds over into the breast of the bird. If everyone sees it other than that please let me know so I can look into it as it may have an impact on the photos I post.
Sicerely
Clayton
cheers
Rob
Thanks Ron. I will definately look into my calibration today.
Definitely interesting enough to post! Not as sharp as many of your other Kestrel shots, but still a great Kestrel shot by mere mortal standards. I really like the "look" the bird seems to be giving you.
Ken Archer
Clayton