Birds II: Things That Go Bump In the Day

There was a loud thunk on the front storm door of Kiko’s House a couple of weeks ago. When I investigated, there were the telltale signs of a bird hit -- a halo of bits of feather and some smudging. Perhaps a mourning dove, I thought. They're not the smartest critter under the feeder, but a cursory investigation failed to turn up a casualty.

I didn’t think any more of the incident. Then the other day, the DF&C noticed something caught in the inner branches of a large and fairly dense bush next to the front door.

It was the body of an American kestrel, the smallest member of the hawk family, a juvenile female, to be exact.

My guess would be that the kestrel, just learning to hunt, was eying the hors d’oeuvres landing on the feeder and dive bombed a chickadee or sparrow, which fled past the glass door and dove into the bush for cover. The kestrel then crashed into the glass and tumbled into the bush, where it expired.

Geez!