I'm never sure it's a good idea to give precise locations in these instances, but the following photos were taken at a local nature reserve in Sussex. I'd gone in search of demoiselle dragonflies, but before we made it to the ponds we came across one of the nesting boxes. There were four young kestrels skipping in and out, and over a period of time we were rewarded with the adult male coming in twice with prey. The first time the chicks disappeared into the box with it. On the second feeding, the largest of the chicks kept the kill (a bank vole by the look of it) to itself.
This is a small selection of photos. There are more over on my website.
The greedy chick doesn't share this time
All the shots were taken from a safe distance away, and many are heavily cropped. I also took some video which has a fairly lengthy feeding sequence near the end. It's long (8 minutes approx).
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Camera note: all shots were taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The video was taken with the Sony Handycam DCR SX30, supported on a monopod.
RobinL
16 Jun 2009Wow! I'm impresses. Very nice pics. A really nice discovery.
Dudley
16 Jun 2009Jackpot! :up:
Words
16 Jun 2009Andy, yes that's the word 😀
Words
16 Jun 2009Robin, it was a wonderful surprise. The box is near a path and situated so that for much of the day the sun is behind you. Perfect conditions to watch them.
cakkleberrylane
16 Jun 2009That is just amazing! Spectacular shots!
UrbanExtension
16 Jun 2009Beautiful pictures, what an amazing thing to see. Have you seen the kestrel nestbox webcam at Dorset Wildlife Trust http://www.dorsetwildlife.co.uk/kestrelcam.html They have 5 very small chicks just hatched. Jane
gdare
16 Jun 2009Excellent, I have never seen this before. How many chicks kestrels usually have, 4 or more?
Cynthia23
16 Jun 2009Thanks, Words, fantastic!!
Ukwildlife
16 Jun 2009excellent stuff.
I really should have headed up to the kestrel family in Regents Park, but just havent had the time.
Words
16 Jun 2009Jane, it was an excellent 'find' and very few people around. Thanks for the link to the webcam :up:
Words
16 Jun 2009Neil, I'm sure it's worth checking out Regents Park. It was a great way to spend some time out in the sun.
Words
16 Jun 2009Darko, I think 4 or 5 chicks is quite usual though it's the first time I've seen anything quite like this.
Words
16 Jun 2009Lois, thanks! 😀
Words
16 Jun 2009Cynthia, thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed them!
SittingFox
17 Jun 2009Fabulous. I won't ask how many hundreds of photos you took in total 😉 Beautiful birds and you've really done them justic here :up:
sprogger
17 Jun 2009Brilliant :up:
Words
17 Jun 2009Adele, I was very restrained and didn't even get to need the spare data card. Great to watch though. Actually there are two main sequences there. We did go and explore the dragonflies in between, but went back later which is when the adults appeared.
Words
17 Jun 2009Thanks Sprogger!
studio41
21 Jun 2009so many wonderful shots to choose from here, greatly enjoyed these.
Words
21 Jun 2009Thanks Jill!
studio41
23 Jun 2009welcome 🙂
anonymous
23 Jun 2009TBR writes:
Superb shots Words.
"Four kestrels manoeuvre in the dark, eh?"
Also mightly impressed with your wagtail photos, but you might remember I'm a bit fond of wagtails!
Words
23 Jun 2009Doug, LOL… I should have thought of that 😆
Thought you might like the wagtails. I get to watch them everyday at the moment. Cute little things, but the poor adults are wearing themselves out.
Flying Red Fox Blog
28 Jun 2009Brilliant photos. 😀 I saw something like that hovering above our villa in Majorca, when i get them edited i will show.
Words
28 Jun 2009Mark, you could well have seen a kestrel, but I'll be interested to see the photo. It may be something even more exotic.