Most of us have seen the Australian kestrel hunting in open country side, hovering in the air, moving from one spot to another, before diving on some prey.
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These are often skinks, or some small rodent, occasionally even a snake. They are a truly great hunter.
Over the years I have photographed these birds in most situations including feeding chicks at the nest, but last season I was surprised when they opened another chapter for me.
It was early spring and I was on a property north of Maitland where I had previously photographed kestrels, when I suddenly spotted one. It was a bit early for them to be nesting, but the female was in a hollow where they had nested before. I decided to settle down to watch and try to work out what was going on.
After some time I was surprised when the female flew out of the nest hole and landed on one of a number of low tree stumps nearby, and waited.
A few minutes later the male flew in with a skink and fed the female, before flying off again while the female returned to the nest hole. This was fantastic - I was actually watching the mating ritual.
Perhaps it was fluke - a one-off - so I decided to wait and see if the show was finished for the day.
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I was rewarded about 30 minutes later when the same thing happened again.
By this time it was getting too late to do anything about it photographically, so I headed off determined to be back and ready for action first things next morning.
The day was perfect, I moved my 4WD into a perfect spot and got set up focusing on the stump, making sure the light was in the perfect position, 400 lens fast shutter speed to freeze action. The car was the hide. The kestels seem to have accepted the car and paid no attention.
I had made up my mind not to try to photograph the female in flight if it flew to the stump.
I wanted the pair passing food, and within 30 minutes that was exactly what happened. This ritual continued all morning and I snapped away happily.
Twice they mated right in front of me, which I recorded. One thing I did notice was the female in the nest hole somehow knew when the male arrived high up in the trees - I don't know how.
This had been a different aspect to photographing kestels. One I enjoyed.
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