I Tawt I saw a Puddy Tat!!

This is the back ally where almost all of the
Kestrel pictures were captured. The building on the extreme left is where the nest was.












The flat roof is the location where the first female and later a couple of the males landed and hopped around. Down and to the Right is another roof belonging to the Blair Cinema... long ago abandoned.








Now! I will tell you I have worked in this area for 9 years and have never seen cats. So when we discovered the babies had hopped over onto the Blair Cinema roof we weren't too concerned. We thought they would be safe there until they could learn to fly up up and away.











The next picture proves that I was WRONG about cats.. We were almost hysterical wondering where the Kestrels were, as we had seen more than one of them hop over onto this roof that evening. I know you can find the puddy tat but can you find the Kestrel?

Click and look in the B of the 'Blair Cinema' sign! We didn't know this until we came home and put the pictures on the computer. Barbie called me screaming 'it's in the B' and I'm thinking 'What?' By far an exciting evening on the Kestrel Watch.
(And no this was NOT photo-shopped)
All six babies were sighted since then so NO! none were eaten by the puddy tat.

To God be the Glory ~ Great Things He Hath Done

The Baby Album

If you don't calm down I am going to peck you! I don't
want to fall out of this nest yet.

Am I Gorgeous or what? I am the first
Kestrel to jump out of the nest and I am a ham!
These girls and their cameras don't scare me.

This is one of my brothers... He's just as handsome as
I am pretty.

I"ll pose pretty for you..

I have to clean up now ... but you can see me and my 5
brothers in the slide show right here on the top right of the
blog. I have pretty brown stripes on my breast
and brown rust and white feathers. My brothers
have black dots on their chests and a slate blue tint
to their wing feathers and tops of their heads.
We both share beautiful big eyes and dark stripes
on our faces. We are one of the most colorful
falcons in the world.

Once in a Lifetime....

For me this is a 'Once in a Lifetime' experience.
I feel so blessed to have witnessed it!

The Red arrow shows the nest sight and the square box
is the first Female Kestrel that came out of the nest.
Quite a little drop. She was seen on the ground in the parking
lot by barbie when she arrived last Friday.

Mom and Dad were watching and screaming...
I don't know if that was a cheering section or a
warning... Mom screams and dad does an alarm!

You ask "How did the little baby get back on the lower roof?"
Well like any smart gal would do ..she takes the steps!!

She hopped and flapped until she reached the top

Looking quite smug when she got there.

She is seen doing the Victory Dance across the roof.

Fluffing a few feathers... glad to be free

Yes, Mom I'm OK..

Or is she looking at her brother still up there and saying
'Come on Down!"

Are you still watching me dad?

Believe it or not .. This is the one and only picture I could get of the baby kestrel being fed. Dad is seen here bringing food and baby's mouth is wide open. They are so secretive about this duty that it is difficult to catch them in the act. I feel blessed to have had this opportunity to document, and share the nesting and fledging of these beautiful illusive falcons.





Stay tuned for the baby album to come and more Kestrel~antics.

To God be the Glory ~ Great Things He Hath done!