{"id":15688,"date":"2014-08-22T05:02:29","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T11:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15688"},"modified":"2025-11-22T07:50:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T13:50:14","slug":"female-american-kestrel-on-a-frosty-winter-morn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/08\/22\/female-american-kestrel-on-a-frosty-winter-morn\/","title":{"rendered":"Female American Kestrel On A Frosty Winter Morn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FemaleFemale American Kestrel on a frosty perch – Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

The weather has taken a turn here in Utah lately with monsoons heading up from the south bringing much needed moisture and the temperatures have dropped some.<\/p>\n

Today is supposed to be windy but tomorrow might bring a bit of a surprise… snow in the high country! That is a little strange for August.<\/p>\n

The forecast made me think of fall and winter, how the scenery changes and of the many birds I will see after fall migration is over.<\/p>\n

American Kestrels are year round residents in Utah\u00a0and when the cold sets in they are less skittish and will allow closer approaches.<\/p>\n

Just after the new year in 2010 I was delighted to photograph this female American Kestrel<\/span><\/a> on a frosty perch\u00a0with the snow-covered Wasatch Mountains in the background.<\/p>\n

The male kestrels may be more colorful but I think the delicate colors of the females are equally appealing.<\/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":"

American Kestrels are year round residents in Utah and when the cold sets in they are less skittish and will allow closer approaches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":164500,"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":[152,27,1022,697,26],"tags":[4004,155,211,4199,4078,4279,4070,3983,368,4201,6276,4892,4094,4069,2646,4104,4093,4095,373],"class_list":["post-15688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-kestrel","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-kestrel","tag-background","tag-falco-sparverius","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-female","tag-frost","tag-frosty","tag-hoar-frost","tag-kestrel","tag-kestrels","tag-marsh","tag-mountains","tag-north-americas-smallest-falcon","tag-perched","tag-snow-covered","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-7275.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-452","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15243,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/06\/30\/american-kestrel-male-on-frosty-rabbitbrush\/","url_meta":{"origin":15688,"position":0},"title":"American Kestrel Male On Frosty Rabbitbrush","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I know a lot of people are suffering because of the heat of summer so I though I would post an image of a male American Kestrel perched on a frosty Rabbitbrush.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Frosty rabbitbrush and a male American Kestrel, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-rabbitbrush-male-mia-mcpherson-1693.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-rabbitbrush-male-mia-mcpherson-1693.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":"Female American Kestrel with vole at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-female-vole-mia-mcpherson-9710.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-vole-mia-mcpherson-9710.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-female-vole-mia-mcpherson-9710.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-female-vole-mia-mcpherson-9710.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":15688,"position":2},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-kestrel-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-9662.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-kestrel-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-9662.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14652,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/30\/female-american-kestrel-with-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":15688,"position":3},"title":"Female American Kestrel With Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"American Kestrels 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 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75886,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/07\/female-american-kestrels-on-the-same-post-ten-years-apart\/","url_meta":{"origin":15688,"position":4},"title":"Female American Kestrels On The Same Post Ten Years Apart","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I was only going to share this image today but as I processed this photo I thought about all the times I have photographed American Kestrels on this same exact post over the years.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult female American Kestrel perched on an old post, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-8952.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-perched-mia-mcpherson-8952.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-8952.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-8952.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108592,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/10\/female-american-kestrel-urban-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":15688,"position":5},"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, 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