{"id":75995,"date":"2020-12-11T06:19:56","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T13:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=75995"},"modified":"2024-09-08T16:40:22","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T21:40:22","slug":"female-american-kestrel-with-her-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/11\/female-american-kestrel-with-her-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Female American Kestrel With Her Prey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult American Kestrel female grasping her prey \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Three days ago I had one minute with a beautiful adult female American Kestrel and her partially eaten prey at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/span><\/a> I spotted her in front of a large greasewood perched on a sign post and took a nice series of photos of her. The small rusty-colored female falcon was grasping the vole she had caught in her talons plus a few times she grasped it in her bill.<\/p>\n

I liked this photo because it appeared that the female kestrel was looking at her prey while giving me a sideways look.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult female American Kestrel with prey in her talons \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The greasewood in the background might be a bit messy however I think the kestrel stands out well.<\/p>\n

Not long after I took this second photo the kestrel turned her back towards me, lifted off with her prey and flew towards another perch to finish eating her breakfast without an audience. I’m happy that I had a minute with her.<\/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":"

Three days ago I had one minute with a beautiful adult female American Kestrel and her partially eaten prey at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_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":[4004,155,2663,4199,4078,4279,5632,4070,10569,6276,4892,4106,153,5488,1999,4290,373,8917],"class_list":["post-75995","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-falcons-of-utah","tag-female","tag-grasping","tag-kestrel","tag-kestrels","tag-prey","tag-raptors","tag-sign-post","tag-talons","tag-vole","tag-winter","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/american-kestrel-adult-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-0308.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jLJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14652,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/30\/female-american-kestrel-with-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":75995,"position":0},"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, 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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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McPherson","date":"January 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I've found American Kestrels to be \"stickier\" in cold weather and it wasn't much above 20\u00b0F when I photographed him as he consumed the vole bit by bit.","rel":"","context":"In "American Kestrels"","block_context":{"text":"American Kestrels","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/falcons\/american-kestrel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"attempting to lift off with prey, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/american-kestrel-male-prey-mia-mcpherson-5615.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/american-kestrel-male-prey-mia-mcpherson-5615.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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