Hi Tweeters,

When the weather gets really cold, and especially with snow on the ground, I
sometimes get a kestrel that visits my yard to attempt to pick of a bird to eat.
This afternoon, I looked out the window and saw the usual juncos and House
Finches feeding in the yard. I looked on the other side of my feeding area and
there was a male kestrel on the ground that was in the middle of eating a bird
it had caught. It was almost completely plucked and about half eaten so I
haven't identified the bird caught yet. What I was amazed at was that the birds
feeding in the yard were acting like it wasn't there. When it took off to my
neighbors roof to finish eating the bird, the birds in the yard never flushed
and kept on feeding like nothing was going on. Do birds not perceive the
kestrel as a threat? When a Sharp-shinned Hawk is in the yard eating a bird,
other birds completely disappear and do not return until the hawk has been gone
for some time. I know that kestrels prey on birds (although this is the first
time I have seen a kestrel eating an adult bird in my yard), especially young
birds and nestlings. I am totally perplexed as to why the birds in my yard
ignored the kestrel.

Any thoughts?

Jeff Kozma

Yakima (Terrace Heights)

j c r underscore 5105 at charter dot net