"Steel," the American Kestrel

I always enjoy catching a glimpse of our smallest and most colorful falcon, the American Kestrel. Every now and then one rips through our side yard as I look out the window, his orange and blue feathers flashing, and the bold, black and white stripes on his face visible even at his breakneck speeds, but he never sticks around long enough for me to grab the camera or the binocs for closer viewing, so I was very happy to get the opportunity to see one up close at RAPTOR, Inc...

Painting 213. A Watery Portrait of "Steel" the American Kestrel

(watercolor)

A quick pencil sketch of Steel. I made the watercolor a little different from the sketch. In the drawing, his left shoulder is soft. In the painting, I made the left shoulder sharper, plus I took the curve out of his left side. He just seemed too soft and puffy in the drawing.

Back in the autumn, Matty and I went on a photo shoot at RAPTOR, Inc. (a rehab facility for injured birds of prey). Most of the birds at RAPTOR are treated, rehabilitated and released, but some are so badly injured they can not heal well enough to survive in the wild. (Click here to see more of the birds from RAPTOR).

"Steel" is an American Kestrel that is blind in his left eye, making it impossible for him to hunt. He stays on at RAPTOR, Inc. as a teaching bird.

"...it looks like a tiny aristocrat, with an intricate tapestry of white, blue, and reddish feathers..."

The above quote is from Robert Bateman's book "Birds." I love this book and pick it up and read it often. The book is a compilation of some of Bateman's most beautiful bird paintings, but what makes it even better, is he writes about each bird, supplying his inspiration for each painting and his encounters with the bird in the field. A few weeks ago, while eating breakfast I opened the book to his American Kestrel entry (page 84), and I liked his description:

"The American Kestrel is a superbly designed, compact falcon with unusually elegant plumage. I think it looks like a tiny aristocrat, with an intricate tapestry of white, blue, and reddish feathers on its upper body and a breast decorated with dark ermine markings."

The black bars under a kestrel's eyes are beautiful, but their purpose is more than just esthetic. The dark color absorbs bright sunlight to help reduce glare when the bird hunts.

...and the pair of large black spots on the back of his head....they serve a purpose too. They are ocelli (false eyes) and may make a predator think twice about attacking a kestrel from behind. Since ocelli look like a pair of eyes, predators may assume the bird is facing them.

Beak Bit
American Kestrels perch-hunt and hover-hunt. When they hover, they use the wind velocity to stay in one place, so even though they may look like giant hummingbirds hovering in the sky, their hovering method is different. Hummingbirds use a figure-8 wing motion to hover in one place, but kestrels fly into the wind at the same speed of the wind. Click here for an earlier post that shows an American Kestrel hovering in the air.

Those of you who follow Birding is Fun! might recognize some of this post. I'm a monthly contributor on the blog and posted part of this article on that site a week or so ago. I switched it up a bit, though and added the pencil sketch. The painting is part of the 100 Paintings Challenge.