American Kestrel at the Garden

While observing a male American Kestrel at the San Diego Botanic Garden the other day, I saw him do something that I have never seen a kestrel do with his prey. In this blog I will show you what this beautiful male kestrel did.

As I watched, the male American Kestrel walked across the table of a tall large tree stump and grabbed a piece of prey. He picked the piece up out of his talon with his beak. Thinking that I was going to watch him eat, I was amazed by what I saw next. Here in this photo, the Kestrel first transfers the prey from his talon to his beak. 

He flies over to another tall bare tree and deposits the food item into a small nook in the jagged landing area.

Leaving the food item in the gnarly stump, he jumps onto the branch.

He flies back to the original big stump appearing to use it as a lookout perch.

Searching for movement on the ground. 

Walking over to the other side of the stump.

He hears my camera and checks my way. 

 

Down he glides. 

Now he is in the deep shade and appears to be searching for something.

He picks up a clod of dirt .

I move over a few feet for a better angle and he is distracted for a moment by my movement.

He rakes the ground much the way you have seen a chicken forage for worms. 

Here he is busy raking through the degraded wood chips. I noticed that the area has been cleared of weeds and many of the plants have been cleaned and pruned. All the clean-up of the grounds have left the area quite bare of plants. 

It has created a good opportunity for this kestrel to have an open field of decomposed soil topping to forage for grubs and other large insects.

He looks for movement.

But keeps a lookout above. The Red-shoulder Hawk is nearby and his calls are often and quite alarming to birds in the area. 

 

The kestrel picks up a clod of dirt and looks under for a tasty treat. 

Not finding anything of interest he flies off. 

Soon he is back perched in a nearby branch.

Off he goes again. 

This time he has grabbed a prey and has brought it back to the table top of the huge stump.

It's a huge grub. 

He has a good grip on the grub in his left talon. 

Starts to eat. 

 

I move over for a better shot.

He is not alerted by my movement and continues to consume his grub.

Take a big bite of the grub.

Close-up.

Looks like grub slime on his beak.

More bites.

Tenderizing the grub in his mouth. 

A good shot of the kestrel with his prey.

 

Close-up.

He decides to pull it apart for easier consumption.

One last beak full of grub.

I'm not sure if he is "savoring" the flavor of this grub or just trying to position it just right for the swallow. 

Down the hatch.

He is done with his meal and needs to clean his beak.

One last shot and I need to head for home. Will check on him again tomorrow. 

Arriving at the Garden the next morning, I ran into Eve getting ready to leave after a quick birding walk. I told her about my observation yesterday about the kestrel stashing his food. Eve was curious to take a look so I offered to walk her over to the area. Took a few shots of the flowers along the way. 

Not many flowers are in bloom this time of the year but really appreciate the ones that are. 

Due to the wonderful rain we have had lately, everything in the garden appears to be responding with new life and growth.

Just as I was pointing out the area where I saw the Kestrel yesterday, the same male kestrel flew in to a tree directly in front of us. My goodness, he must have been hunting grubs already, he had a big juicy one in his beak. 

 

You can see that the prey is a good sized grub. As I was explaining to Eve how he had flown over to the bare snag in the distance to stash his prey, the Kestrel flew off. 

He flies to the highest part of the dead snag. He appears to start to eat the prey. 

But changes his mind and places the grub into the crevice in the center of the jagged stump. 

He arranges the grub and tucks it in a hiding place.

Moves the prey around a few more times until he is satisfied with the location. This is fascinating to observe. I have seen ravens do this but never a Kestrel falcon.

He sits up and looks towards us as if to say "This is my grub and don't you dare steal it!" 

He flies back to the large stump and lands on the table top. He perches at the edge with his left foot tucked up. 

He appears to be searching the grounds again for the  movement of grubs.

 

Looking to see who is watching him.

He spots something to his right. 

 

Down he goes, and he has landed closer to where we are standing. 

Close up.

 

Searching the ground for movement as he picks up some debris in his talons.

Keeping his eye on us. 

 

He looks for any movement below.

Found himself a muddy spot to forage.

 

Now he is digging and lifting and moving pieces of mud with his talons away from the area of interest.

Using his talons like a rake he looks for movement.

Intense focus.

Hope he keeps an eye out above for predators. There are several hawks in the area and they could be very dangerous to this little guy.

Close-up of the kestrel using his talons to move away the bark and mud to expose grubs. 

He finds none and flies onto a branch. 

 

A few last shots and I need to check out the rest of the garden.

Last close-up of this handsome American Kestrel. What an amazing behavior I've just observed. Feeling so thankful for the opportunity to be able to get the photos of this unusual activity, I thank him and start for home.

Heading back towards the parking area, I spot one of the Red-shouldered Hawks perched in a tall tree. Lol, doesn't he look a bit like Chewbacca from Star Wars?

 

He looks quite young. What a beauty!

 

Walking around, I found a beautiful sun-catching sculpture .

Another youngster, an Allen's Hummingbird enjoying the sunlight.

Look at all the pinfeathers!

One last shot.

 

A familiar call gets my attention. A Northern Mockingbird lands and poses.

Walking back to the parking area, I pass the small pond near the waterfall. A Mallard Duck is enjoying the quiet of the morning.

The most common duck in America but still a beauty.

Almost to the parking area and I spot an Orange-crowned Warbler.

It's been another great birding day at the San Diego Botanic Garden. Birding or enjoying the beautiful plants there is always something new to see at the Garden. 

Have a beautiful weekend everyone!