Kestrel

[William Dickson]

Canon 5D Mkiii
Canon F/2.8 300mm and 1x4TCiii
f/6.3
1/2500
ISO 640

I had another walk to the castle where a pair of kestrels are nesting, and managed to capture this shot. Thanks for looking

[Troy Lim]

Nice and sharp. What's it holding on? Colors are a bit warm.

[William Dickson]

It a vole Troy. They eat a lot of them.....

A kestrel is capable of locating its prey at remarkable distances - it can see and catch a beetle 50 m from its perch. Kestrels need to eat 4-8 voles a day, depending on the time of the year and the amount of energy-consuming hover-hunting they do. They have a habit of catching several voles in succession and cacheing some for later.

[Marina Scarr]

This could not have been an easy capture and must have been awesome to see.