Wildlife Photography: Giving the Bird (a home)

 

 

An article by Outdoor Photographer Patti Fowler.

I’m excited! For the 3rd year running it looks like I will have American Kestrels nesting in my backyard.

The first year we saw it happen from the beginning when the male came in to check out the wood duck box to see if it would be a suitable nesting site all the way through to the last of the fledglings leaving the box.

We were first able to get pictures of the eggs and the baby chicks when they were about 2-3 days old. Just a few days later my neighbor and I were walking out to the box to get more “growing up fast” shots when we saw the female fly into the box. We thought she was just going in to feed and would be coming right back out. We waited for 15 minutes or so and she still hadn’t flown back out. With expert knowledge that Kestrels are tolerant of humans while nesting and that they never abandon a nest, we decided to try and get images of the female with the chicks. We were quick and respectful—limiting the picture-taking time to a count of 15 for each of us. The female Kestrel never even moved. It was an opportunity that I will never forget.

We continued to monitor the fledglings as they grew and eventually got brave enough to hang out in the hole of the wood duck box, screeching for one of the parents to bring them food. Did I mention the screeching? It is loud and insistent. After a full day of sitting by the box and listening to them, I thought I’d been to a rock concert!

Eventually it would be time to leave the nest, so we spent the entire 4th of July week sitting with fingers on shutters waiting for the big moment.

One flew out overnight or early morning. We saw him flying in the area, but we missed seeing it happen. The remaining birds were just frantic screeching, bouncing in and out of the hole and twisting their heads every which way searching for their “lost” sibling. One leaned out a little too far and ended up half in/half out of the box with one wing extended and flapping on the outside. He finally got control of his wayward wing and fell back in the box. If you listened closely, you could almost hear the sigh of relief.

Over the next couple of days the remaining birds came out and stuck close to home until the last bird clumsily flew, no…make that fell out. He cleverly “climbed” up the ladder we had  there to reconnect with the rest of his Kestrel siblings. While they were  getting used to their wings, both my neighbor and I were able to get within 10 feet of them to get the final portraits before the parents showed them how wings are supposed to be used.

In year two we added an IR video  camera and were able to see one of them pecking its way out of the shell.

I can’t wait for what this year will bring.

You can also visit http://www.windigoimages.com/ and type in “Patti Fowler” into the search bar to see more of Patti’s wildlife photography.

See Patti Fowler’s American Kestrels and more at GraphicLake.

Listen to an American Kestrel and learn more about them at WhatBird.com.

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