American kestrel.
This early evening I spent a long time on the high, chilly fields of Beech Hill with my dog and an American kestrel. A few minutes before, Jack and I had arrived to an empty parking lot. Today’s cloudless sky belied the finger-numbing cold—thanks mostly to a stout, gusty wind. About half-way up, I spotted the kestrel.
American kestrel.
The rest of our hike sort of vanished into a mindless state of observation, of looking out, of sensing, of craning to see, of thrilling at the fluttering, hovering falcon, whose nose faced into the wind, and whose wings managed somehow to keep it motionless in the air for seconds at a time. It dipped to the bronze fields several times, but I’m not sure if it was catching little insects or what? It veered, it lifted, it hung there motionless.
At one point during our descent, I stopped and turned us around as we followed the little hawk. At another, it perched on one of the little posts that line the trail—and then a stem of stubble. When finally the kestrel slipped away behind us and down the eastern slope, I realized I hardly had any feeling in the fingers of my camera hand.
I’m lucky to have a patient dog. I could’ve stayed up there with that solitary little hunter until nightfall.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Song sparrow (v)
2. Black-capped chickadee** (v)
3. American crow*
4. American kestrel†
5. Herring gull*
6. Turkey vulture
7. Northern cardinal* (v)
8. Tufted titmouse** (v)
Elsewhere
9. House finch (v)
10. European starling (v)
11. American robin
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
Tags: American crow, American kestrel, American robin, black-capped chickadee, European starling, herring gull, house finch, northern cardinal, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture
