{"id":108592,"date":"2022-12-10T04:43:38","date_gmt":"2022-12-10T11:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=108592"},"modified":"2022-12-10T04:43:38","modified_gmt":"2022-12-10T11:43:38","slug":"female-american-kestrel-urban-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/10\/female-american-kestrel-urban-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Female American Kestrel – Urban Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was thrilled to have this female American Kestrel in my neighborhood and viewfinder after an overnight snow fell two days ago.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale American Kestrel on a snowy light \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

While I was driving around looking for birds to photograph I caught just a little bit of movement on top of the snow-covered street light. When I stopped my Jeep the kestrel looked up from her morning meal. although I would have preferred a full body image I liked the snow was in front of this bird and the snow-covered crabapples in the background.<\/p>\n

I find American Kestrels in my urban habitat for most of the year. There are plenty of open spaces nearby for these small falcons to hunt and find prey plus lots of trees that they can nest in down by the river. I know that there are woodpeckers in the area that make nesting cavities that the kestrels can take over and nest in. If there were kestrel nesting boxes installed along the river we would have even more of these colorful falcons in my neighborhood.<\/p>\n

A few second after I took this photo the female American Kestrel grabbed her breakfast and took it to the top of a power pole to finish eating. I think my Jeep and the city truck that drove past her on the crunchy snow was simply too much traffic for her to cope with.<\/p>\n

I adore American Kestrels<\/span><\/a> because they are small, colorful, and feisty. What’s not to like about them?<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American Kestrel photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was thrilled to have this female American Kestrel in my neighborhood and viewfinder after an overnight snow fell two days ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152,27,709,26],"tags":[4004,155,970,2663,6962,4199,4078,4279,4620,4070,6276,4892,4204,12646,153,4050,4328,8018,6289],"class_list":["post-108592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-kestrel","category-avian","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-kestrel","tag-autumn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-crabapples","tag-falco-sparverius","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-fall","tag-female","tag-kestrel","tag-kestrels","tag-light","tag-malus","tag-raptors","tag-snow","tag-snowy","tag-urban","tag-urban-birds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-kestrel-adult-female-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-5862.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-sfu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":109584,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/13\/female-american-kestrel-on-a-tree-top\/","url_meta":{"origin":108592,"position":0},"title":"Female American Kestrel On A Tree Top","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent a few moments photographing a gorgeous female American Kestrel on a tree top yesterday morning at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saucy looking female American Kestrel, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-kestrel-female-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-8016.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-kestrel-female-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-8016.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Kestrel Get Off My Lawn look, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/american-kestrel-female-get-off-my-lawn-look-mia-mcpherson-2637.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/american-kestrel-female-get-off-my-lawn-look-mia-mcpherson-2637.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/american-kestrel-female-get-off-my-lawn-look-mia-mcpherson-2637.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/american-kestrel-female-get-off-my-lawn-look-mia-mcpherson-2637.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-sign-mia-mcpherson-7620.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-sign-mia-mcpherson-7620.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-sign-mia-mcpherson-7620.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-sign-mia-mcpherson-7620.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18140,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/12\/23\/female-kestrel-with-prey-on-a-snowy-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":108592,"position":3},"title":"Female Kestrel With Prey On A Snowy Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been seeing plenty of American Kestrels lately but none have been close enough to get nice images of so I pulled this one out of my archives from 2010.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Kestrel with prey on a snowy day, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-kestrel-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-9662.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-kestrel-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-9662.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15688,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/08\/22\/female-american-kestrel-on-a-frosty-winter-morn\/","url_meta":{"origin":108592,"position":5},"title":"Female American Kestrel On A Frosty Winter Morn","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"American Kestrels are year round residents in Utah and when the cold sets in they are less skittish and will allow closer approaches.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female American Kestrel on a frosty perch at Farmington Bay WMA, 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