{"id":11735,"date":"2013-12-09T06:00:54","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=11735"},"modified":"2025-11-22T06:42:54","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:42:54","slug":"a-female-american-kestrel-and-an-american-pipits-demise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/09\/a-female-american-kestrel-and-an-american-pipits-demise\/","title":{"rendered":"Female American Kestrel And An American Pipit’s Demise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I spotted and pointed out a female American Kestrel next to the road at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area in low light and with snow falling.<\/p>\n

\"FluffedFluffed up female American Kestrel in low light<\/span><\/p>\n

She was a beauty perched on a rusty hunk of metal. The bits of snow on her face and head simply amplified that beauty.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleAmerican Kestrel female and her prey<\/span><\/p>\n

The second time I spotted the female American Kestrel had prey in her talons. When I looked at the prey I identified it as an American Pipit.<\/p>\n

The light was still low but I took plenty of images any way. Here the falcon is plucking feathers from the pipit.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale American kestrel with pipit feathers on her bill<\/span><\/p>\n

The was photographed near a bridge with a boat ramp and some hunters with an air boat where making plenty of noise, I half expected her to take flight with her prey at any second. I could tell that the noise made her nervous.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale American Kestrel and her prey on rusty old metal<\/span><\/p>\n

The noise from the air boat was deafening but the little falcon kept plucking away. At times she would turn and look right at me as if she was saying “Do ya hear that awful noise?”.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale American Kestrel dropping the American Pipit
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

After a bit I could see she was struggling to maintain a grasp on her prey and in this frame I caught the American Pipit falling to the snow-covered ground below.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale American Kestrel after failing to get her prey<\/span><\/p>\n

When the kestrel went down to retrieve her prey she seemed to not be able to find it on her first attempt. This image shows her lifting off from the snow to land on the rusty metal, look at all that snow flying!<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale American Kestrel getting her balance back<\/span><\/p>\n

In this frame the kestrel was getting her balance back, she looks pretty ferocious to me! The feathers and snow were still flying.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Kestrel retrieves her prey<\/span><\/p>\n

On her second attempt to retrieve her prey the female kestrel grasped it in her bill and flew away from the noise of the air boat and the hunters.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Kestrel hiding with her prey under a concrete slab<\/span><\/p>\n

She found a concrete slab and hid under it for a bit before she flew off which was interesting behavior.<\/p>\n

I normally see American Kestrels with voles as prey but seeing her with the American Pipit once again showed me why American Kestrels used to be called Sparrow Hawks which is why some people probably still use that name.<\/p>\n

I wish I would have had better light for this great encounter with the female American Kestrel<\/span><\/a> and her prey, as it was all of the photos in this series were taken at ISO 800 just to have some shutter speed.<\/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 normally see American Kestrels with voles as prey but seeing her with the American Pipit once again showed me why American Kestrels used to be called Sparrow Hawks which is why some people probably still use that name. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":164468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152,4654,27,1022,697,26],"tags":[4004,155,2400,4655,4021,2663,16989,4199,4078,4279,4070,4175,3984,1130,6276,4892,4094,12570,5475,4895,4106,5668,4050,4328,16985,4095,373],"class_list":["post-11735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-kestrel","category-american-pipits","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-kestrel","tag-american-pipit","tag-anthus-rubescens","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-demise","tag-falco-sparverius","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-female","tag-fog","tag-foggy","tag-food","tag-kestrel","tag-kestrels","tag-marsh","tag-metal","tag-pipit","tag-pipits","tag-prey","tag-rusty","tag-snow","tag-snowy","tag-strap","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-female-balancing-mia-mcpherson-6255.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-33h","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":108592,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/10\/female-american-kestrel-urban-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":11735,"position":0},"title":"Female American Kestrel – Urban Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was thrilled to have this female American Kestrel in my neighborhood and viewfinder after an overnight snow fell two days ago.","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 snowy light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-kestrel-adult-female-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-5862.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-kestrel-adult-female-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-5862.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-kestrel-adult-female-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-5862.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-kestrel-adult-female-light-snow-mia-mcpherson-5862.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110181,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/12\/female-american-kestrel-get-off-my-lawn-look\/","url_meta":{"origin":11735,"position":1},"title":"Female American Kestrel Get Off My Lawn Look","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"When I viewed this American Kestrel photo my first thought was if this isn't a \"get off my lawn look\" then I have never seen a get off my lawn look from anyone.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-female-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-2200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-female-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-2200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-female-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-2200.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/merlin-female-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-2200.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109584,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/13\/female-american-kestrel-on-a-tree-top\/","url_meta":{"origin":11735,"position":3},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-kestrel-female-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-8016.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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are fascinating falcons, they are tiny, colorful and at times quite pugnacious.","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 with prey in Utah, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-5625.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-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-5625.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-5625.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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