American Kestrel, West Kennebunk, Maine

I wrote yesterday’s Day Poem about my encounter with this American Kestrel. It was sitting on the sign post for Westfield Road on my way back from the Kennebunk Plains on my eBike yesterday. The day was deteriorating fast, from glimpses of sun toward rain. It was already dark and windy, and I was kind of pushing it to get home before I took a chill. Yet the Kestrel circled out ahead of me as I passed and settled on a telephone pole, so I had to stop and try for some pictures. The Kestrel is my favorite raptor, my favorite falcon…though I heard recently that it is actually more of a parrot than a hawk, genetically. Actually, being a Kestrel, closer to a parakeet. So it goes. I never got really close to the bird, and this is a heavy crop of a 600mm shot, taken in dull, uninspiring light, against a gray sky…still, any shot of one of my favorite birds is a treat. (And it will remain one of my favorite birds even if it is really a rust colored parrotlet with blue wings. Sony RX10iv, as I said, at 600mm. Program mode. +.7 EV. 1/1000th @ f7.1 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.