Lucky for me, pigeons and starlings roost on the building across the street from my loft – this attracts kestrels, the smallest of all falcons, to come look for a meal right outside my window.
This week a young female stopped by and I was quick enough to get some pictures before she flew away. I like how the blurred bricks in the background surround her with soft pink – contrasting the rusty metal, her sharp talons and killer instincts.
Only kestrels are small enough to fit inside the pigeon nests…
Others will try, but are too large… this is a Red-Tailed Hawk:
This is a Cooper’s Hawk:
Big thanks to my apartment building management for agreeing to use a natural solution of pigeon control instead of poison. Today we installed a Kestrel nest box on the rooftop near where the pigeons perch and poop. Hopefully this nest box will encourage the small falcons to stay – and the pigeons to leave. You can read more about it on EcoRI.org
Kestrels will also assist in controlling the rodent population
One Comment
excellent photos!! How luck you are to have them so close, they’re so much fun to watch