Pretty Bird in a Pretty Setting

So often in my decades of shooting pictures of wildlife, when I photograph American kestrels, they are on a power line, in or on a nest box, or close to something manmade. While the images are accurate representations of the birds, the pictures tend to not be too attractive. As much as I can I prefer to photograph wild birds (or other wild species) in natural settings with no indications of human involvement.

This morning I noticed a young kestrel poking its head out of a nest box attached to a utility pole. As I backed my Jeep to photograph the owl in the nest box, movement by this “just learning to fly” kestrel diverted my attention. My attention switched from the human-impacted kestrel setting to watching and shooting pictures of this pretty young bird in a natural environment.

Even though the bird was somewhat unstable on the spindly brush, it did sit still long enough for some photos to be made. This was one of them.

I will probably never be able to photograph this particular bird in this setting, this close again. Kestrels quickly become wary and generally avoid any interactions with humans.