ML164894071

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Will add photos. I found this family group in the pine trees close to the west side of the grandstands. Young ones were clearly heard begging for food. Twice I saw the male fly out from its perch to grab a dragonfly out of the air and land on the same tree branch it took off from. Then one of the young ones (all three young ones were males by the way) would fly over to retrieve the food that the adult caught. They could have nested in this park, somewhere east of the grandstands in one of the older park buildings, or possibly in one of the old factory buildings that are now vacant just south of the park. Another possibility is that they found a large enough hole in one of the tall white pines to nest in? In any case, the young ones could fly, but did not seem very well at flying yet, so I'm guessing wherever they nested, that it was not that far away. I would have never expected to find nesting kestrels in this area, especially since there has been Merlin's nesting in Marathon Park for many years now (except that I did not find any Merlin's today).

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P900

ISO

250

Focal length

268 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

4608 pixels x 3072 pixels

Original file size

2.9 MB