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Common Kestrel - Tårnfalk - Falco tinnunculus
Tornfalk  - Tårnfalk - Tuulihaukka - Torenvalk - Turmfalke - Cernícalo Vulgar - Faucon crécerelle



Kestrel sheltering under the helideck
Kestrel sheltering under the helideck, Black Sea, March 2010
Picture taken with a DSLR and a 400m telephoto lens






Kestrel, Lanzarote
Eastern Canary island subspecies of Kestrel (F.t. dacotiae) , Lanzarote, March 2012
Picture taken with a DSLR and a 400mm telephoto lens



1 cy Kestrel
Picture taken by "digibinning" with a Nikon Coolpix 4500 and Swarovski 10x42 binoculars

The above picture was taken 17th September 2006, onboard a survey / construction vessel on the Ormen Lange gas field, some 100 km NW of Kristiansund, Norway. Binoculars were used together with a Nikon Coolpix to take this picture.

This young bird rested briefly onboard before resuming its journey south. At the time this was picture was taken it was sharing the vessel's main crane boom with a young Grey Heron.



digiscoping, digibinning, bird photography

Kestrel sheltering from the wind.
Picture taken with a Nikon Coolpix 4500, no telephoto lens

The above picture was of a different Kestrel on 19 September, immediately after a heavy downpour in increasing winds. I initially flushed this bird from a meal - it had just polished off a Northern Wheatear - some wet feathers can be seen still sticking to its talons in the above photograph. Below is all that was left of the unfortunate Wheatear - perhaps the same bird with the smashed leg that I had rescued earlier in the day....


Kestrel dinner plate - the remains of a Wheatear
Kestrel's dinner plate - the remains of a Wheatear

Offshore Kestrel
Offshore Kestrel - one of a few birds hanging around Gullfaks A picking off migrant passerines, April 2014
Taken with DSLR and fixed 400mm lens

Very wet Kestrel, Tjeldstø, Norway
A very wet and bedraggled Kestrel, Tjeldstø, Norway, 15 September 2015
This bird was taking advantage of the rain forcing earthworms to the surface where it caught and ate them easily.


Migrating Kestrel, Mediterranean, October 2020
Migrating Kestrel, near Mallorca, Mediterranean, October 2020

Migrating Kestrel, Tjeldstø, October 2020
Migrating Kestrel, Tjeldstø, October 2020

Kestrel, Engerdal, Norway, May 2021
Kestrel, Engerdal, Norway, May 2021
Numbers of Kestrel vary quite a bit in Engerdal, in some years they are "everywhere", in others rather harder to locate.

Male Kestrel takes a break onboard a construction vessel on the Dogger Bank, North Sea, April 2023
Male Kestrel takes a break onboard a construction vessel on the Dogger Bank, North Sea, April 2023. It is quite common to see these birds crossing the sea and was one of at least two I saw on the Dogger Bank in the course of a few weeks.

This photo and the ones below were taken with a compact superzoom rather than a DLSR.

Female Kestrel with prey onboard a construction vessel on the Dogger Bank
Female Kestrel with prey onboard a construction vessel on the Dogger Bank
Kestrels commonly take small birds when migrating offshore.

Female Kestrel onboard a construction vessel on the Dogger Bank

Attempt at a flight shot with a compact superzoom
Flight shot with a compact superzoom - same female as pictured above


Female Kestrel, Dogger Bank, North Sea, April 2023
Female Kestrel, Dogger Bank, North Sea, April 2023



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