Wild Bird Wednesday

The black birds were very disturbed the evening that we went to Lurie gardens ...

Here they are mobbing a pair of crows ...

 watching and calling on a light post ...

 Two crows calling on the building across the street ...

 A Robin on alert ...

and a Grackle's intense stare ...

But they were not at all concerned with this Big Bad Bird (Great Horned Owl)

The blackbirds were dive bombing the Kestrel so we had to move him into the tent.  He was the culprit ... I learned something that had never occurred to me before.  This American Kestrel is a diurnal hunter ... a threat that all of the dirural birds recognized ... but the Owl, a nocturnal hunter, posed no threat to them because they never see them hunt.  I thought that was pretty amazing :)

Andrea

Smile it's the Weekend

Mom said we are going to have House Guests ... Oh Nos ... now I has to barks and protects the whole times they are heres.  I am wondering who it is ... maybes someones I can plays with.  

Well, Badger Boos ... they is here.  They cames in a box and they aren't peoples.  They are birds.  My Mom and her birds.  She once went on a trips to see birds and lefts me homes with my Daddy's.  I am not sures I ever forgaves her for thats ... and now, it's the birds agains!

This is an Americans Kestrel ... he eats meats like mes, so he can't be all that bads, right?

And this is a Screech Owl ... he looks likes he eats too much meats ... a little fats, you thinks?  Mom says he has a hurts eye and that's why he lives with peoples.  They both was wilds once, but couldn't survives because of injuries so we takes cares of thems.  Thats okay with me ... My Moms and Dads takes cares of mes and I isn't hurts, so we can do this for thems.    

I hopes they will be happys stayins with us ... I feels bads for them.  I hopes we will be good freinds ...

Wordless Wednesday

 

This young man was a guest in my house while his handler was away.  He is a male American Kestrel, the smallest of the Falcons in the United States.  He is an education bird for the Illinois Raptor Center.  Because they are migrating birds it was necessary to bring him in the house because it was too cold for him in his mew.  He is a wild bird that was injured (left wing) and though he could still fly, he could no longer hunt well enough to survive in the wild.  He now travels to schools, park districts and organizational gatherings to educate people about the important  role of the raptor in the balance of nature.   Is he not a handsome boy?

Wild Bird Wednesday

http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.ca/2012/09/wild-bird-wednesday-09-sooty.html

It is rare that I can get this close to an American Kestrel (male).  I suspect that they are young because there were two males in the same area ... but maybe not.  Maybe they aren't so territorial when it isn't mating season.  This little boy was enjoying a meal and seemed not the least concerned that I was taking his picture.  I actually drove away for awhile and came back and he was still there.  Note that he keeps his nictitating membrane closed while he eats.  That is to protect his eyes in case the prey strikes out at him.  He is a beauty and has some unusual markings which I caught in pictures on another day when we went back and he was still hanging in the same area (another post :)

The American Kestrel is the smallest Falcon in the United States.  He can also hover like the Rough Legged Hawk I featured last week.  They eat small prey and insects.  The female, which there were none around this day, is all Rufus with black stripes on her back, wings and tail.  They both have the identifying marks of  the dark face stripes (often called tears).