Kestrels Out and About

The kestrels I photographed in the tree hole last week have fledged! Here are two of the siblings sitting on a branch, waiting for their dinner. Their cries for food gave them away, although we had seen a kestrel flying over the field. As a parent approaches they cry out for food, and one seems much hungrier than the other.

Then the parent flies onto the branch and quite a kerfuffle follows!

I only realised when looking at the images on screen that the parent has brought a mouse for dinner. I am assuming that it is a parent. The more I watch wildlife the more I realise how little I know and how many questions I need answers to. I read that kestrels need to eat about 4 to 8 voles or other small mammals a day. They have fantastic eyesight and can spot a beetle from 50 metres! They also see in ultraviolet so they can spot urine trails of small rodents and locate them more easily. They pounce on prey with their talons and use their sharp beaks to spear them. Sometimes they cache food for later in the day so they do not have hunger pangs in the night.

One of the birds looks like it’s getting squashed.

Off it flies, though not very confidently yet. Kestrels hunt from perches or by hovering in the air. This hovering action with the tail splayed is a good way to identify kestrels from other birds of prey.

Later on the birds were dispersed in different trees. I read that for the first two weeks after fledging the family stays close together as the youngsters learn to hunt and fend for themselves. Below is a photo of one of the siblings on its own in the middle of a tree. Another perches on a high up branch.

And for this one, possibly the youngest, it’s time for a postprandial nap. I’m so glad I didn’t have an after lunch nap myself, but went out for a walk in between rain showers to be rewarded by seeing this lovely, growing kestrel family.