I live in Valencia, Spain and where I walk my dog there is what appears a young kestrel. I've seen s/he hover but mainly perch and glide hunting. This sounds daft but I think this kestrel recognises me. I usually make a repeat whistle when I see them and speak to them softly. Some days of course, they are nowhere to be found.
The first time I started to think this bird is habituating to me was when it glidedpast me iinto a tree (the one in photos) I was standing close to...but perhaps coindence...
Anyway, I have been in the UK for a few days and today when I walked the dog...no kestrel...not unusual. Bit disappointed I headed home. I am then in a completely different piece of wild land (campo - 5 minutes walk away) much closer to home/town and out of nowhere the kestrel appears. Flies right towards me and perches on a pylon beside me. I get to get my field glasses out to check, whistle and speak to her/him. They were clearly checking me out, before flying onto another pylon heading back in the direction of their normal fields on edge of village.
So questions:
1. am I delusional or can wild falcons build a 'relationship' with humans? I would swear this bird is acting socially towards me - at a distance of course - but that's twice it's flown directly into my space.
2. when do young kestrels show the change in plummage brown or grey head? This one is brown but is very confident and I'm not sure if there is a gender bias for 'boldness' or if this trait tends to be familial.
3. what is the average hunting range for a kestrel? Do they tend to stay in one area or move?
4. Do kestrels share hunting ground? There is another bird but I think it may be a buzzard in the same area...is this possible? This other bird, seems much more 'grumpy' and less interested in me.
5. I know with birds of prey in captivity they are put in seclusion for a big moult, how does this work for wild birds? Does it happen over time? I found a lot of primary and secondary feathers. At first I thought it was a predator had caught a falcon/hawk - now I wonder if it was a moult? Can you pass on some links about this?
6. I've attached some photos of the feathers, some of the bird sitting on a tree anda couple of them in flight. Is this a kestrel? Sorry the photos aren't great - only on camera phone at a distance.
Many thanks for any info for a total novice
Smiles
A
Thanks for enjoying the photos :) I will try and get you a 'gang' photo of the hoopoes. It's odd, some days seem to be certain types of bird days - today was kestrels both Alicia and Freddie were stalking me lol, yesterday was the black redstarts, last week I had a hoopoe day.
The iberian shrike above has a favourite wire and tree - I'm assuming its the same one because it's perched there a lot, but who knows - its surprisingly big up close and it took me awhile to accept it was actually that type of bird - in my head I kept thinking it should be smaller.
FYI - we also have hedgehogs (erizos), foxes (zorros - yep that's how Zorro got his name...), dragonflies, butterflies, snakes (haven't seen any recently but where I lived before came across some huge boas), spiders (wolf spiders type of tarantula), hares (beautiful, powerful beasts-I usually just see them from behind, their ears), rabbits (once a full grown, wild rabbit ran full tilt, straight at me, launched itself and used me as a wall to make a 45 degree turn - very surreal), wild boar (jabili - stumbled into a piglet once and promptly ran, fast, in case mum appeared) and once got 'buzzed' by an owl in the wood near my house. No idea what type it was, daytime, wood, impressive wing span. Oh and bats, lots and lots of bats! it's the sympbol of Valencia
No kestrels today - I suspect because of the big guy flying overhead in lazy circles (see below)....If anyone can confirm that this is a common buzzard I'd be grateful - wings feathers like fingers
Nice one of Snr Urraca-ca-ca (in Spanish he's called the sound he makes...) carrying something
Then if anyone can confirm what the other two are??? I think one is a pied wagtail on a fence??? and an unknown
Thanks
your "buzzard" looks very much like a booted eagle, although its hard to tell from the photo - it immediately sprang to mind from the shape and colour when I saw it if that counts for anything! the little brown bird looks like a female/immature stonechat, at the very least I think its some kind of chat/flycatcher but im not too sure. and yes I agree the grey bird is a pied/white wagtail (immature I think). I love hearing about the names of birds in other places - that is incredibly fitting for a magpie
thank you so much for this saffybrod!
Re: booted eagle - aguila calzada - i think you are totally right! When I was trying to identify the 'big bird' via the Cornell app, the common buzzard didn't look/feel quite right but its really the only big circling bird I 'know'. A type of eagle never entered my head as i always associate them with mountains. That said, where I live the coastline is a short flying distance from mountain range, so might have been taking a day trip to the beach lol. When I looked up the booted eagle - I was like, yep that's what I saw. I was watching it via binoculars on its circle and got a great view of its 'back' (outside wing view, no idea what the technical term is for this???) and the markings were just like the light morph picture. I am totally impressed that you could identify this bird from an admittedly rubbish photo (my old 300mm lense is at its limit). Can I ask what is it that helped you identify it? Apart from a lot of experience...
re: stonechat. Well today I saw a male European Stonechat - tarabilla europea - (app again). It was sitting on a fence in all its glory so i got a really good view. I was extremely excited about this. They are probably super common but you probably always remember your first time
Also saw a ton of pied wagtails and black redstarts. Today they were really helpful and sat and sang for me so I got a really good listen.
No kestrels - cernicolos - but today is cloudy, threatening rain.
You probably know Valencia has been hit by DANA. We, in the south, Alicante region, haven't had it so bad, but last night through to tomorrow, we are on orange alert. My friend is in the worst hit region (where I used to live) says it is chaos and a couple of nights before she had displaced wild boar at/in her garden - kind of terrifying as her dogs ran out and these animals are 'gore first, ask questions later'.
I agree the magpie's name in Spanish is fab onomatopoeia rocks
Re: identification. Just read something about eagles having a more 'heavy cargo plane' vibe - I'd thought Lancester Bomber lol
I get what you mean about associating eagles with mountains, certainly the large eagles like golden eagles seem to prefer higher altitudes but then again you also have the fish eagles that live in relatively low areas with water so I suppose they can be found pretty much anywhere. booted eagles are quite small for an eagle, about the size of a buzzard so perhaps they have a similar lifestyle (this is just a guess though!!).
As for what made me think booted eagle, it was firstly the shape - the flight feathers form very long "fingers" which is a typical eagle trait. The colour pattern was the second thing, with what looks like a pale cap and nape, a darker "mask" on the face and pale underwings with dark, contrasting flight feathers. Overall it just looks like a very pale bird, and although pale buzzards do occur they typically dont have that sharp contrast on the underwing. Also the tail is unusually long for a large raptor - buzzards and even most other eagles have relatively short tails, whereas it looks to me that booted eagles are a bit of an oddity with a rather long tail. I was initially a bit confused as booted eagles migrate to africa and asia in the winter, but apparently some of them winter on the coast in spain so that would make sense! It was basically just looking at photos of birds of prey and comparing them to yours to rule them out.
I have heard about DANA - I hope your area is not hit too badly and that you're able to stay safe. Wow I can't even imagine having wild boar in the garden, interesting but quite scary as you say
Today was kestrel heaven. First off Freddie 'jumped me'...I walked into campo - which he must have heard as my dog and another dog were having a big hullaboolo. And walked boom right into him at eye level height sitting on a pole. 10-15 metres from me. Camera was in bag d'uh. He had a good look at me and then flew off to is favourite telephone wire. More big surprises awaited...
Not one but two!
even with my crappy 300mm lense....
So, I wander off to walk dog. Then sit down to watch the world go by, Alicia comes and sits in a tree a bit further away, both of us just chilling, enjoying the sun. Then she takes off, flies right over me, calling for Freddie. Next thing, I see a pigeon chasing a kestrel...yep well strange. Big caffuffle. Head back to the first wire to find....
I'm thinking ok I'm going to try and get an action shot of him taking off and then this happens....
oh be still my beating heart :D
I didn't see Freddie leave but then there was just
Lovely, lovely kestrel day
yes the fingers on the wings really stood out and I kept looking back and forth from the app pic of the buzzard to the bird, thinking nope something isn't right. But I don't have the system to remember certain parts of the body yet. I loved the way you broke it down. that will certainly help in future - thank you so much