{"id":3957,"date":"2012-01-06T16:20:13","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T22:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=3957"},"modified":"2025-11-21T05:40:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T11:40:02","slug":"a-preening-american-kestrel-friday-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/01\/06\/a-preening-american-kestrel-friday-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Preening American Kestrel ~ Friday Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

American Kestrels hold a special interest for me, they are North America’s smallest falcon but what they lack in size they make up for in attitude. These kestrels can be feisty.<\/p>\n

\"MalePerched American Kestrel male – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Here in Utah they are difficult to approach except for during the winter, they get “stickier” in the cold. We have a stable population of American Kestrels in Utah but in other parts of the United States their populations are declining.<\/p>\n

\"EvenEven American Kestrels can look goofy –\u00a0Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I spotted this male American Kestrel resting on the top of a Rabbitbrush that was fairly close to the road I was on and after a few minutes the kestrel began to preen. As handsome as they are most of the time they can look quite goofy while preening.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Kestrel preening its tail feathers –\u00a0D300, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m always pleased when I can get close enough to an American Kestrel to get images but I was even happier to get these while the small falcon was preening and paid little attention to me. In the\u00a0photo above the bird was pulling its tail feather through its bill to clean it.<\/p>\n

\"American American Kestrel with tail fanned out – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

As the falcon preened I was able to anticipate the movements it made and that gave me some interesting shots.<\/p>\n

\"WhatWhat a cute American Kestrel pose! –\u00a0Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I really liked the pose above, the Kestrel was just rubbing its head against its shoulder while it preened and quite often the eyes are closed when this occurs\u00a0so I was glad that I had eye contact in this frame plus the lifted wing.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Kestrel cleaning his feet –\u00a0Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I had a lot of fun photographing this preening American Kestrel<\/span><\/a> and appreciated the lovely setting, light, and the various poses that it gave me.<\/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 hold a special interest for me, they are North America’s smallest falcon but what they lack in size they make up for in attitude. These falcons can be fiesty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":164308,"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":[152,511,27,1022,26],"tags":[4004,155,10838,4199,4078,4279,7619,7229,595,730,6276,4892,4062,4019,4289,6285],"class_list":["post-3957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-kestrel","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-kestrel","tag-cleaning","tag-falco-sparverius","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-fanned","tag-feet","tag-friday-photos","tag-goofy","tag-kestrel","tag-kestrels","tag-male","tag-preening-2","tag-rabbitbrush","tag-tail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-male-mia-mcpherson-4151.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-11P","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":108592,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/10\/female-american-kestrel-urban-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":3957,"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, 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Kestrel","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I would describe American Kestrels as tiny but tough, they are North America's smallest falcon but I don't think that hinders them at all.","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 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, 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They might be our smallest falcon in North America but they have big attitudes, fierce characters and are terrific hunters.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male American Kestrel lifting off from a post, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-male-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-7976.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-male-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-7976.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-male-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-7976.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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, 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