One or Two American Kestrels

Last November I spotted 2 American Kestrels. Or did I spot 1 American Kestrel twice? It's difficult to say.

Butterflies sometimes have wing damage that can differentiate them. With birds though a damaged wing is more likely to be fatal. Sometimes a bird will have unusual plumage that can be used to differentiate them, but on an overcast day and quite a bit of distance between me and the bird(s) I can't really tell you if these are pictures of the same bird or not.

My impression is that this is a popular area for American Kestrels - I've seen them here before and know that they nest in the area - so seeing multiple kestrels wouldn't be surprising. If they were uncommon I would be more inclined to think they were the same bird.

The sightings were in somewhat different locations since I was walking, so it's not like the birds were in virtually the same spot. The sightings were 17 minutes apart; a kestrel could easily have flown from the 1st spot to the 2nd.

Ultimately I'm leaning towards these being different birds, but it's certainly possible I'm wrong about that.

November 4, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 251084032, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


November 4, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 251084020, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Northern Watersnake

Image
This April I went to Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge with the hope (among other hopes) of seeing the Northern Watersnakes during mating season. There were 2 problems with this: I think it was slightly late in the season for this. The boardwalk trail where I had seen them in the past was partially closed due to repairs. So although I didn't see any of the 2+ intertwined snakes that I'd seen in the past, but there were still Northern Watersnakes warming themselves in the sun: April 13, 2023 at Great Swamp Photo 272117862, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) And here's another one coming out of the water. April 13, 2023 at Great Swamp Photo 272119139, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Read more

Female Brown-headed Cowbird

Image
Like quite a few birds, this bird is easier to identify when spotted with her significant other ; she's a Brown-headed Cowbird . Due to their tendency to be monogamous plus plain old birds-of-a-feather behavior, I usually see them with prominently brown-headed males around, greatly improving my confidence in IDing them. My understanding is that Brown-headed Cowbirds are the only obligate brood parasites in my area. Obligate brood parasites have essentially lost all their parenting skills, and thus if they were ever unable to fool other birds into raising their young, they would (almost certainly) go extinct [1]. There are, however, other brood parasites in New Jersey. These are called facultative brood parasites, and these birds will usually raise their own offspring, but will also engage in brood parasitism. (Exactly when birds perform facultative brood parasitism seems variable; one source said it occurred when resources were scarce while another said it occurred when resource
Read more

Rooftop Turkey Vultures

Image
I met these Turkey Vultures by just walking out of my apartment. (I theoretically could have gotten a picture without going outside, but that extra layer of glass can degrade picture quality a little.) Although they don't show up on these rooftops daily, they're not an uncommon visitor to my apartment complex. Similar to this spot of the woods , I wouldn't expect this to be a great place to find carcasses. I'm thinking they're here mostly because: They don't have to worry much about predators up there. They get a pretty good view of the area in case something should happen to succumb. (This apartment was near the top of a hill, providing a better view than most of the other apartments.) Since this picture was from February, it's probably a slightly warmer spot, especially near those furnace vent pipes. Although these are Turkey Vultures, it's also not unusual to see Black Vultures up there too. February 28, 2023 at Finderne Photo 264703396, (c) jpviole
Read more