The American Kestrel is the smallest North American falcon, and also the most colorful.

The pairs of black vertical slashes on the sides of their faces give them a distinctive look along with what appeared to me as “eyes in the back of their head” as he swiveled around.

Here he is settling himself after “rousing”, a shaking action that lifts all the feathers.

American Kestrel, Falco sparverius
The Center for Birds of Prey offers photographers an opportunity to take close-up photographs of owls and other birds of prey a few times a year.
The Center for Birds of Prey, Photography Day, April 22, 2018, Awenda, SC.


