April 2017: Recently, I discussed the winter raptors of “my beat” in the Thomson and Michaelbrook Marshes that mark the boundaries of Kelowna’s Recreational Fields in Lower Mission. I began that post by featuring a female American Kestrel that I have been flirting with (actually, I have to give her most of the credit, here) since Spring 2015.
I named her “Kessie.” Seemed reasonable, I thought. Last year, I had the privilege of watching her mate with “Amke“, a handsome but less interactive bird not far from their nesting tree on the southwest edge of Michaelbrook Marsh. This Spring, sometime in late February and through March, she began spending more time in that part of my beat. In the first week of April I have twice watched them copulate on different days. Most of the photos in this post are not spectacular, but I’d like to share them with Kestrel lovers everywhere:
Click on clusters of photos like the ones below to open them in a new tab….
The parents to be….
Getting together looked pleasant enough:
Preparing for the trials of parenthood starts with nutrition….
Kessie greets us on an evening visit.
(Above) Kessie looks more serious, somehow, than she did two months ago (below)….
We’ll keep an eye on this pair and hope to see offspring in due course.…
birds & musings 