Eurasian Kestrel - Netherlands / Beleef de Lente

[sparkster]

I noticed that, too. They were fun to watch.

[susha]

No Kestrels this year

[irenekl]

For those interested Beleef de Lente is up and running.  Several of the cams are on as the various birds arrive back at the nests.  The falcons are back here as well!

[burdi]

I remember watching that video dupre, and it was scary! I was so thankful when the owls left.

[dupre501]

I am going to recommend the Kestrel camera they have on the Beleef de Lente site. The live feed is done for the year, but they have a great summary video dated 01 aug 2015. The video is about 6:49 long, but at the 3:28 mark you can see that there was a nighttime visit by a pair of owls. The one owl seemed particularly interested in the 5 sleeping chicks and looked about to hop down into the nest box. Just glad this ended well for all of them.

http://www.beleefdelente.nl/vogel/torenvalk

[sparkster]

This camera will be shut down in a day or two, I think, but they have a couple of great summary videos posted - March/April, and May/June - with a lovely farewell and close-up of a parent in the last one (have a tissue on hand). There is also a short video of one of the chicks playing in a puddle on June 16 entitled,  "AAB op het dak". The cuteness factor is fairly high.

http://www.beleefdelente.nl/vogel/slechtvalk

[irenekl]

This was an excellent nest to observe.  I'm going to miss these guys.

[sparkster]

This has been a great little family to observe. The parents must have depleted the mouse and lizard population to feed the 6 chicks - over 1,000 prey at the last count, according to the clips.    The parents were very fierce when the crows were around. It has been a pleasure to watch as the chicks developed. I hope they all do well.

[susha]

All six kids have fledged.  The clips showing the last one leaving are fun to watch as he watches all siblings leave, then one comes back as if to encourage, which he does successfully.  All six fledglings have been spotted, hanging around the area and the parents are feeding and protecting them as furiously, if not more so than when they were in the nest.  It's been lovely to watch this family grow and thrive

[dupre501]

Here are a few shots of the wee ones.

 

[dupre501]

If you check out the clip "13 jun 2014 Ringen" you can see one of the chicks being banded.

They put a clear barrier to the outside then access the chicks. At the end you can see one of the parents outside seperated from the chicks by the clear barrier.

[susha]

Holy Moly!!  I haven't looked at these guys since the weekend and they've suddenly gotten their big bird feathers!

I posted this quickly from work and didn't specify that it was the wee Kestrals I was talking about

[sparkster]

these guys have fledged and there are some clips of them zipping around the nest box. On the same Beleef de Lente site, the kestrels cam has 6 larges chicks that will likely fledge soon, very cute http://www.beleefdelente.nl/vogel/torenvalk

They are very adept at flying and landing. I notice, too, that there are usually at least a couple or maybe all of them back in the nest box at night. I wonder if it is because it is the only tall structure around? I don't recall that the Manitoba birds return to the nest box very often after they fledge.

The kestrels are a hoot, grabbing food and swallowing it whole (with a sand lizard tail hanging out of a beak  ), and scooting backwards around the nest. And it is interesting to watch "Ma" defend the nest by fluffing out her feathers when the crows bother them. She looks quite fierce.

[Kinderchick]

Wow! They are big! All 4 seem to have returned to the nest box for the night. 3 are sleeping and 1 is acting as a night watchman, I guess. LOL!

[susha]

Holy Moly!!  I haven't looked at these guys since the weekend and they've suddenly gotten their big bird feathers!