An abundance of kestrels

I was hiking up the Napeequa River Valley in Glacier Peak Wilderness, a
pretty remote sort of place and along the trail were the biggest species of
grasshopper I have ever encountered outside the tropics. These things were
humongous. And there were lots of them. We stopped for a lunch break in a
grove of trees and I walked towards the river and was startled to find a
kestrel at eye level on a shrub. I was looking at the mountains across the
valley and had walked up very close before I realized it. I was surprised
it did not fly away. Then I noticed that it had a very extended stomach and
to my complete astonished amusement it burped! I assumed it was so full of
grasshopper feasting that it was not interested in flying. I had a brief
moment of temptation to approach it and force it, to see if it COULD fly,
but I admired the handsome bird at close range then headed up the valley. In
the 3 miles or so between that point and our camp for the night we counted
46 kestrels, although we could have, and probably did, count some more than
once. At one point there must have been grasshopper densities of 30 or 40
per square meter, it was a plague, although only in about a 3 mile section.
I have often wondered since if this place annually enjoys this abundance of
Orthopotera or if somehow the falcons found this trove on their own.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
The Environmental Science School
HYPERLINK
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