PG - Kestrel on a kill.

[pressld2]

At Shellness today, I was walking along the path past the blockhouse when a kestrel flew up carrying something heavy...



She didn't fly far before dropping back to ground and covering her prey with her wings...



There was no cover to hide behind so I thought she'd just take off again as I approached but she didn't. She allowed me to get remarkably close. I was keeping low and moving slowly which helped, and eventually got down to about 8 metres. The vegetation stopped me getting a really clear view but I managed these shots...



Eventually, something disturbed the bird and she flew off. I'm pretty sure it wasn't me as I'd been sitting there taking photos for twenty minutes by then and she'd been ignoring me. About half my shots look like this...



I nipped in to see what she'd caught and it was a bar-tailed godwit, surprisingly large prey for one of the smaller raptors. It was ringed so I recovered the ring and have reported it so we'll know a bit more about the bird in a few weeks.



As I left, the kestrel was circling round and she eventually returned to her lunch.

Dave P.

[Dogghound]

1st winter male, kestrel.

It's surprising the size of prey kestrel can handle. They will take wintering waders and larger birds upto pigeon size. Im sure you would have appreciated that godwits are smaller than they look, when you get close.

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

1st winter male, kestrel.

Many thanks Dan - the brown head threw me!

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Im sure you would have appreciated that godwits are smaller than they look, when you get close.

Indeed, much smaller than I thought. I was looking up the relative sizes tonight though, and my book gives the barwit as 33-42cm and the kestrel as 34-39cm. That's length though, and gives no indication of bulk. Plus the kestrel has talons and a hooked beak which are bound to come in handy in a fight!

Dave P.

[aeshna5]

Excellent sequence of photos; I've never personally seen a Kestrel take anything larger than a Blackbird.

[RoyW]

AN interesting series of shots Dave!

Originally Posted by pressld2

Indeed, much smaller than I thought. I was looking up the relative sizes tonight though, and my book gives the barwit as 33-42cm and the kestrel as 34-39cm. That's length though, and gives no indication of bulk.

The length given in books can often be misleading because it is measured from the tip of the beak to the tip of the tail. Godwits clearly have a longer beak than Kestrel, though this will be partly balanced by the shorter tail.
The difference in bulk between different species, and different individuals, can make even more difference though (something to bear in mind when trying to identify unfamiliar birds based on a comparison with known species nearby, and comparing measurements in a field guide).

[scout]

Awesome shots!

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by pressld2

the brown head threw me!

If you look in the first picture you can see he is starting to aquire his grey adult rump feathers at the base of the tail. Also the overall ginger/bright plumage of the back is still dominated by juvenile feathers.

[pressld2]

Just got the details through from the BTO on the barwit...

Ringing Scheme: London Ring Number: DD84760 Species of bird: Bar-tailed Godwit

This bird was ringed by Swale Wader Group as age 1st year, sex male on 26-Oct-2011 at Harty, Kent
OS Map reference TR0265, co-ordinates 51deg 21min N 0deg 54min E.

It was found on 21-Jan-2012 at Shell Ness, Isle of Sheppey, Kent
OS Map reference TR0567, co-ordinates 51deg 22min N 0deg 57min E.
The bird was Freshly dead Taken By Owl Or Raptor:
Remarks Kestrel

It was found 87 days after it was ringed, 4 km from the ringing site, direction ENE.

Just a youngster then.

Dave P.

[FUDGEY]

Im going to open a can of worms here, but one of the things taht rile me are people approaching BoP when they have a kill. Dave, you always come across as a decent bloke but 8 metres is far to close mate. Its no where near as bad as you see sometimes with Sparrowhawks, you know the people that walk up to them with mobile phones etc. These birds expend a lot of energy catching such prey and by appropaching them too close and risking them leaving the kill is irresponsible IMO. This could lead to the death of a bird through starvation and its just not on. I trust you have good fieldcraft, but I still say 8m is to close and it puts out the wrong message to others who think this is an acceptable distance. Dont take this the wrong way Dave, its not a personal attack just a message I thought needed saying.

[pressld2]

These are good and important points you raise, Fudgey, and I certainly don't take them personally. In fact, I'm in total agreement with you that approaching too close to a BoP on a kill is irresponsible and not on. The only thing I'm less sure of is that there is a "one size fits all" acceptable distance beyond which we shouldn't approach. I think there are a number of factors that need to be considered in assessing this and they will differ with circumstances.

In this particular case, I already knew that if I approached too close the bird wouldn't abandon his kill but would carry it away. That's exactly what he did when I first, inadvertently, disturbed him while walking along the footpath before I knew he was there. Had he done that on my second, deliberate, approach then I would have left him to it and not pursued any further. There wouldn't have been any point and I'd have just been wasting energy - his and mine. Secondly, there's the bird's behaviour. If he'd spent all his time glaring at me, looking nervous or agitated then yes, I'd be too close and would back away immediately. But while he's unconcerned enough to continue feeding, I wouldn't say I was too close even at 8 metres.

But having said that, this was my first (and so far only) encounter with a raptor on a kill, and maybe I did approach closer than I should have. What do others think?

Dave P.