{"id":29158,"date":"2015-10-08T05:50:39","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T11:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=29158"},"modified":"2025-11-22T08:33:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T14:33:15","slug":"a-female-american-kestrel-at-farmington-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/10\/08\/a-female-american-kestrel-at-farmington-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Female American Kestrel at Farmington Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-127273 size-full\" title=\"Female American Kestrel lifts her wings\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-mia-mcpherson-3697.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-mia-mcpherson-3697.jpg\" alt=\"Female American Kestrel lifts her wings, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-mia-mcpherson-3697-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-mia-mcpherson-3697-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-mia-mcpherson-3697-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-mia-mcpherson-3697-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-mia-mcpherson-3697-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-mia-mcpherson-3697-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-mia-mcpherson-3697-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-mia-mcpherson-3697.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Female American Kestrel lifts her wings &#8211; Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/350, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Male American Kestrels usually grab the show with their bright colors and bold patterns but I think the females are equally as stunning. Kestrels have long been a favorite of mine, in fact one of the reasons I picked up a camera in the first place was that one day I hoped to get a great American Kestrel image so I could sketch or paint it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-127272 size-full\" title=\"Female American Kestrel stretching\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-stretching-mia-mcpherson-3596.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-stretching-mia-mcpherson-3596.jpg\" alt=\"Female Kestrel stretching, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"640\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27640%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20640%20800%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27640%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-stretching-mia-mcpherson-3596-200x250.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-stretching-mia-mcpherson-3596-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-stretching-mia-mcpherson-3596-400x500.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-stretching-mia-mcpherson-3596-600x750.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-stretching-mia-mcpherson-3596.jpg 640w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Female American Kestrel stretching &#8211; Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I have so many of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/American_Kestrel\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">American Kestrel<\/span><\/a> images that I desired long ago but since that time I have put down my pencils and paint brushes after my love for bird photography became my deepest and what seems to be an addictive passion.<\/p>\n<p>Now I &#8220;paint&#8221; with my camera instead.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/american-kestrel-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American Kestrel photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n<p>P.S. My camera is still waiting to be shipped. It was &#8220;rushed&#8221; through repair and has been sitting waiting to be shipped for over 24 hours.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not happy with Nikon right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Male American Kestrels usually grab the show with their bright colors and bold patterns but I think the females are equally as stunning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[152,27,1022,697,26],"tags":[4004,155,2663,4199,4078,4279,4070,6276,4892,6183,4094,153,3964,4095,4135,5498,373,8917],"class_list":["post-29158","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-birds-of-prey","tag-falco-sparverius","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-female","tag-kestrel","tag-kestrels","tag-lift","tag-marsh","tag-raptors","tag-stretching","tag-wetlands","tag-wing-lift","tag-wings","tag-winter","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-kestrel-female-mia-mcpherson-3697.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-7Ai","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15688,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/08\/22\/female-american-kestrel-on-a-frosty-winter-morn\/","url_meta":{"origin":29158,"position":0},"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 &quot;American Kestrels&quot;","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, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-7275.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-7275.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-7275.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109584,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/13\/female-american-kestrel-on-a-tree-top\/","url_meta":{"origin":29158,"position":1},"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 &quot;American Kestrels&quot;","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 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-kestrel-female-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-8016.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"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":29158,"position":2},"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 &quot;American Kestrels&quot;","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":49749,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/10\/female-and-male-american-kestrel-comparison\/","url_meta":{"origin":29158,"position":3},"title":"Female and Male American Kestrel Comparison","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I've seen people struggle with seeing the differences between male and female American Kestrels and I hope this simple comparison will help.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Kestrels&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female and Male American Kestrel Comparison, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/american-kestrel-female-male-mia-mcpherson-2801-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/american-kestrel-female-male-mia-mcpherson-2801-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/american-kestrel-female-male-mia-mcpherson-2801-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/american-kestrel-female-male-mia-mcpherson-2801-1.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":29158,"position":4},"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 &quot;American Kestrels&quot;","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":29158,"position":5},"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 &quot;American Kestrels&quot;","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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}