A Kestrel, a Sparrow and a Crow

riddim_maker

Today was one of those rare gloomy and rainy days here in LA.
As you know, not necessarily great lighting for avian photography.
But sometimes the subject and situation is so compelling that one cannot resist the temptation.

Normally I'd have to drive miles just to get some feathered action, but this morning it showed up at my doorstep:

This kestrel, with prey (a sparrow), landed on a high voltage pole behind my house



Not too long after he started enjoying his meal, a dark figure appeared overhead



Well, what do we have here? An uninvited guest for lunch.
"Maybe he'll leave if I pretend to ignore him"




Finally,unwilling to share his lunch with the unfriendly intruder, the kestrel hastily
moves with its prey to a different spot on the same pole



But the persistent crow was not easily swayed


In order not to anger the unfriendly intruder any further, the kestrel decided to give up his prey and his pole to the crow while thinking:
"he who fight and run away lives to fight another day"

jwear

fantastic great set with the last shot to nail it down real great work

JohnDC

Very nice shots. I like that ominous looking image of the crow above the kestrel.

Harryb

Great series of shots.

dallas

Wow............Wow............Wow. I wish I had been there.:cry :cry :cry They are fabulous images Russ. Congratulations.

Gale

Fantastic shots.
Next to last won't show for me though

raptorcaptor

Very nice series Russ!

riddim_maker

Gale wrote:

Fantastic shots.
Next to last won't show for me though

Thanks for the "heads up" Gayle and for commenting

bfjr

Don't ya just love them lucky happenstance's !! :wow

And boy did you take advantage of it

riddim_maker

jwear wrote:

fantastic great set with the last shot to nail it down real great work

Thanks Jeff, not bad for backyard shooting.:D

riddim_maker

JohnDC wrote:

Very nice shots. I like that ominous looking image of the crow above the kestrel.

Yeah, you're right. It seems like a scene from a scary movie.

riddim_maker

Harryb wrote:

Great series of shots.

Thanks Harry.

riddim_maker

dallas wrote:

Wow............Wow............Wow. I wish I had been there.:cry :cry :cry They are fabulous images Russ. Congratulations.

Yes, I wish you were too William:cry :cry :cry ... . We were actually talking on the phone minutes after I captured this scene.

riddim_maker

raptorcaptor wrote:

Very nice series Russ!

Thank you, Glenn

Brooks P

Number three amazes me. We have crows and ravens and I can't seem to get the exposure right, and you got both the crow and the kestrel. That is a most impressive series of photos, what a great capture.

BigAl

Great series, but #2 is super

riddim_maker

Brooks P wrote:

Number three amazes me. We have crows and ravens and I can't seem to get the exposure right, and you got both the crow and the kestrel. That is a most impressive series of photos, what a great capture.

Dark subjects are indeed a challenge to expose correctly. I guess everything fell into place in this situation since I already had the exposure set for the kestrel when the crow showed up. The overcast sky might have also been a contributing factor. Thank you for your kind comments, Brooks

riddim_maker

BigAl wrote:

Great series, but #2 is super

Thanks BigAl, #2 was actually the motivating for this post.

Maestro

I love your Kestrel shots. They are very nice! That raven has some cojones!

kdog

Very interesting behavioral interactions there combined with great photography.
It doesn't get any better than that. Congratulations, Russ!!!

Milan

Wow. Great pictures and great story!
Shot #2 is amazing.