{"id":43040,"date":"2016-11-08T05:42:07","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T12:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=43040"},"modified":"2025-11-22T09:38:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T15:38:28","slug":"american-kestrel-landing-with-a-grasshopper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/08\/american-kestrel-landing-with-a-grasshopper\/","title":{"rendered":"American Kestrel Landing With A Grasshopper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale American Kestrel landing with a grasshopper – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 400, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

It is always a fine morning when I am out in the field with birds. Although yesterday wasn’t nearly as birdy as I would have liked it to be while I was out it was far better than staying at home culling or processing images, cleaning house or worrying about this election.<\/p>\n

I photographed a few wrens, avocets, blackbirds, sparrows, harriers, and doves but the best bird, or at least the one I spent the most time with, was an American Kestrel.<\/p>\n

The male American Kestrel was hunting from the top of a rusty gravel separator near Goose Egg Island at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n

From that perch he was able to spot grasshoppers on the side of the hill and would fly in, snatch them and then come back to the perch to eat his prey.<\/p>\n

Because the kestrel did this repeatedly I hoped to capture images of him as he landed with the prey in his bill so when the kestrel would fly off to get prey from the hillside I pre-focused just above the perch that I hoped he would come back to and he did just that several times.<\/p>\n

I was able take one image of the American Kestrel<\/span><\/a> landing with a grasshopper in his bill that was sharp and that I liked. It isn’t everyday that I am able to capture a landing kestrel right before its feet grasp a perch so I am happy with this photo.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. It is better with birds in it.<\/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 able take one image of the American Kestrel landing with a grasshopper in his bill that was sharp and that I liked. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":164529,"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":[4004,155,970,2663,4199,4078,4279,4620,4738,6276,4892,4123,4062,4094,4106,4095],"class_list":["post-43040","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-autumn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-falco-sparverius","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-fall","tag-grasshopper","tag-kestrel","tag-kestrels","tag-landing","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-prey","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-grasshopper-landing-mia-mcpherson-1941.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bcc","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":43040,"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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has such a pale chest that the spots on his chest stood out like tiny black jewels set in a field of snow white.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pale-chested American Kestrel in Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-male-perched-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-3812.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-perched-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-3812.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/american-kestrel-male-perched-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-3812.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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 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, 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