American Kestrel - Cape May, NJ (Sep. 16, 2006)

We stopped at the Beanery and saved this picture to remind us of an exciting time. We stood at the edge of a large field for about 45 minutes because there was just no end to the raptor displays. At one point two Cooper's were sitting next to each other on one rail and on each side of the them, on the same rail, was a Kestrel. We saw many Sharp-shinned, Cooper's, and Kestrel, one Red Tail, and several Ospreys. We also saw an adult Bald Eagle. Hawk Mountain is wonderful for learning raptors at a distance (and sometimes close-up), but on this particular day we saw more Kestrels and had better looks at them than we had in the last 4 years put together. We were thankful to be there at that particular time. As always, clicking on the picture will enlarge the view of the bird.