American Kestrel - A Lover Not (?) a Fighter

As hot afternoon light gave way to crisp, golden spring late afternoon light I was intrigued to see a lone female Kestrel on a corner fence post. I set up my camera gear to take a nice photo in the late afternoon light - and was surprised by the following event - one that I will most likely never see again; Kestrels mating.

The beautiful princess

The smaller male, with his slate colored wings, surprised both of us when he landed onto of the bigger female.

He fought for his balance with his wings not, if you look closely, with his talons. He does not appear to dig his talons into her upper back in any of the photos.

I am certainly not a bird mating expert so I can only guess if the positioning was correct enough to produce the desired result.

This photo is my favorite - it captures an extraordinary moment I will most likely never see again and yet I am more amazed at the exquisite colors and patterns of the feathers. When I look closely I cannot help but see the American Kestrel as a beautifully drawn flying piece of art.

The rest of the story: When I was on a photo safari in Kenya and Tanzania many years ago I was in a vehicle that pulled up short and stopped in front of a river crossing. To our front, blocking our crossing, where two hyenas locked in the classic mating "doggie style" position. (As a "doggie" type animal I would imagine their options are limited.) I took a whole roll of film - yes, it was that long ago - as my fellow passengers looked on and giggled.  I took the whole roll to get an image similar to the one above - both creatures looking at me while in their mating embrace.  I had seen postcards in local hotels that featured mating animals - as joke postcards - and I knew I had "the" picture for their postcard. Afterward I contacted that postcard company and sold them the image. Years later one of my Air Force Special Operations brethren was in Africa, saw the postcard with my hyena image on it, bought it and returned to the States to surprise me with "my" postcard.  

These two Kestrels did their deed, listened to my story and are apparently as bored as you have been. My story aside, I hope you enjoyed the incredible moment I was lucky enough to witness and even luckier to capture on digital "film."

More images of the fruits of their labor to follow...