Kestrel - hover mode on...

[Itsallaguess]

So we know they can hover really well, but I didn't ever realise just how still they keep their heads whilst doing so....

https://i.imgur.com/cgkQk86.gifv

Amazing...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[kiloran]

It is an astonishing capability, rather like hummingbirds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPRswRWZ23Q

Seems to defy Newton's third law of equal and opposite reaction. When the wings beat one way, you'd expect the body to move the other way

--kiloran

[Breelander]

If you think it's hard to keep your head still while hovering, try doing it while you are running....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4nd9GF1dRg

[scotia]

As a child (65 years ago) in Central Scotland, birds of prey were few and far between. Then Kestrels increased and became the most common bird of prey, but it still needed visits to more remote areas farther north to see Buzzards (40 years ago). Then Buzzards moved into Central Scotland, and are flourishing - at the expense of the Kestrels? The Ospreys have also arrived - but they fill a different niche, so are not competitive with the Buzzards and Kestrels. And yes - the hovering and focusing ability of a Kestrel is impressive, and it is a lot more "attractive" than a Buzzard.

[bungeejumper]

The Ospreys have also arrived - but they fill a different niche, so are not competitive with the Buzzards and Kestrels. And yes - the hovering and focusing ability of a Kestrel is impressive, and it is a lot more "attractive" than a Buzzard.

I've heard that the increase in road traffic is the main reason why kestrels are flourishing. They are proving particularly adept at picking off roadkill, and we often see them hanging over main roads around these parts. Bad news for the badgers and the foxes and the hedgehogs, of course - but I suppose carrion clearing is an essential job, and somebody's got to do it?

I'll never forget picnicking on a cliff top in Dorset, where a kestrel hovered about five yards away from us for ten or fifteen minutes. He was sailing over the cliff edge, so to speak, and the wind was coming straight off the sea, so either he couldn't see/hear us, or else he was totally on a mission and he couldn't care less about us because he knew we couldn't reach him anyway. Absolutely breathtaking to watch at that distance. And yes, the immovable head was exactly as described.

In West Wilts, these days, we are just starting to see the first red kites. It still gives me a thrill to see them when I'm in the Chilterns (around High Wycombe), where they are now so commonplace that they're actually starting to be a problem. (They are said to be very bad nest raiders.) Would give a lot to see an osprey, though!

BJ

[AleisterCrowley]

Lots of red kites around here (west Berks) and all the way along the M4 corridor to Slough/Windsor. I rarely see any other raptors.
Lovely birds, and easy to spot with the forked tail which they angle in flight

[Imbiber]

I have lived in East Kent for over 60 years and never saw a Buzzard until a few years ago, now it is an almost daily occurrence. Red Kites I have seen 2 or 3 times in the last couple of years.

[Dod101]

So we know they can hover really well, but I didn't ever realise just how still they keep their heads whilst doing so....

https://i.imgur.com/cgkQk86.gifv

Amazing...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

A very interesting video. I wonder how much of it is just a repeat though? The sky looks suspiciously like the same movement of the clouds if you watch this for any length of time.

Dod

[Itsallaguess]

A very interesting video. I wonder how much of it is just a repeat though?

The sky looks suspiciously like the same movement of the clouds if you watch this for any length of time.

The clip is only 13 seconds long, and the first half of the video has a bee flying around in it. The video-play is set to repeat, however.

Oh, and the sky is the sea...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Dod101]

A very interesting video. I wonder how much of it is just a repeat though?

The sky looks suspiciously like the same movement of the clouds if you watch this for any length of time.

The clip is only 13 seconds long, and the first half of the video has a bee flying around in it. The video-play is set to repeat, however.

Oh, and the sky is the sea...

OK, but why?

Dod

[Itsallaguess]

A very interesting video. I wonder how much of it is just a repeat though?

The sky looks suspiciously like the same movement of the clouds if you watch this for any length of time.

The clip is only 13 seconds long, and the first half of the video has a bee flying around in it. The video-play is set to repeat, however.

Oh, and the sky is the sea...

OK, but why?

Because all that water is affected by the strong gravitational pull of the earth.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[kiloran]

The clip is only 13 seconds long, and the first half of the video has a bee flying around in it. The video-play is set to repeat, however.

Itsallaguess

WHATT???!!! I was admiring the kestrel's stamina, hovering for hour after hour.

--kiloran

[Itsallaguess]

The clip is only 13 seconds long, and the first half of the video has a bee flying around in it. The video-play is set to repeat, however.

WHATT???!!!

I was admiring the kestrel's stamina, hovering for hour after hour.

And the bee too...

Persistent little buggers those bees.....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Dod101]

The clip is only 13 seconds long, and the first half of the video has a bee flying around in it. The video-play is set to repeat, however.

Oh, and the sky is the sea...

OK, but why?

Because all that water is affected by the strong gravitational pull of the earth.

Cheers,

And I thought that water and the tides were affected by the phases of the Moon. Well, well.

Dod

[scotia]

In West Wilts, these days, we are just starting to see the first red kites. It still gives me a thrill to see them when I'm in the Chilterns (around High Wycombe), where they are now so commonplace that they're actually starting to be a problem. (They are said to be very bad nest raiders.) Would give a lot to see an osprey, though!
BJ

Encourage your fishermen to stock the local reservoirs with brown trout, and arrange to plant woods with mature Scots Pines (that may be more difficult) - and you should get the Ospreys.
We have local areas with Red Kites in Scotland. There is a feeding station with hides at Argaty (near Doune). A few years ago when we visited it, a team were climbing the trees in a nearby wood, and were ringing the Red Kite chicks in their nests before they fledged. It appears that Red Kites have the same kleptomaniac tendencies of magpies - an unusual array of items, including kid's toys, were removed from the nests.

[sg31]

The Kites find toys for the chicks to play with and then people remove them. It's enough to put them off humans for life.

[gryffron]

Near me, rural Lincolnshire, there is a back road with a shooting club. They obviously release pheasants as there are hundreds of the buggers all over the road. No road sense whatsoever, and hence feasts for the scavengers. I've seen Red Kites regularly, a Buzzard just last week, and a Barn owl (in daylight) which sat right at the side of the road with its feast as I drove right past it. So you see, shooting is good for the wildlife
Kestrels common here too.

Gryff