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Kestrels!
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Kestrels!
- From: James Coman <hillshepherd@skybest.com>
- Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 09:29:47 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
- Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2001 5:16 PM
Dear Carolinabirders:
I discovered yesterday that the kestrels nesting in one of the boxes on
the farm had just fledged three young. They were just out, learning to
fly, and chasing the adults and begging while staying in the area of a
few acres around the box.
This afternoon, while mowing for hay that pasture, I found that the
kestrel family was still in the area. Then after several passes with the
tractor and mower had cut a fair amount of hay, the young kestrels began
pouncing on injured and dazed grasshoppers and other insects in the mowed
swath. This continued for several hours, with the birds coming as close
as 10 feet to the running tractor. This is unique in my experience. I
always have a cloud of assorted swallows circling the tractor and mower
as I cut hay, and if trees are close, flycatchers, mockers, etc., but
never have kestrels followed the mower like these three. The two adults
kept more distance, but were also taking insects off the new-mown hay.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Also, two weeks ago, screech owls fledged two young, a gray and a red, in
a wood-duck box at the small pond.
James Coman
Alleghany County, NC
hillshepherd@skybest.com