A big part of the enjoyment of bird watching is making friends, lots and lots of friends who love birds.
Over the years, I have made numerous friends while out birding and I hope that trend continues.
In fact, as I am out and about almost daily with my camera searching for interesting topics to write about, I have actually had the pleasure numerous times to randomly meet many of you, my loyal readers and friends, who share the same passion for birds and nature as I do.
But today as luck would have it, I crossed paths with a brand new friend, one I actually made the acquaintance of just last week while traversing Antelope Island.
And I don’t mind saying he is already considered a dear friend, one I hope to get to know better and hope to see a lot of as time goes on.
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Suffice it to say, however, this particular friend isn’t a follower of my blog or even a bird watcher for that matter but rather a banded American kestrel I came across last week while out photographing on the backside of Antelope Island.
After doing some research and finding a little bit about this particular male American kestrel, I feel as if I know him well enough now to indeed call him a friend.
I was fortunate to cross paths with my falcon buddy twice today, in fact, as I was driving around Antelope Island looking for birds, bison, and anything else of interest.
The first time I spotted him this morning, the colorful falcon was perched on a road sign but, unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned without me knowing it at the time.
And it wasn’t until after the bird had flown off I then realized the images were not going to work out.
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My heart was broken.
I was disappointed I wasn’t able to photograph and blog about yet another encounter with this male American kestrel.
But as luck would have it, I came across the kestrel once more, this time feeding on a freshly caught mouse atop a vent on one of the small buildings, and I was once again able to verify it was indeed my previously reported American kestrel.
The fact that I was able to learn this kestrel was 1 of 4 that fledged from the same nest last year makes it a bit more personal and that was only available due to HawkWatch International banding American kestrels to study their movements and migration patterns to help save the declining population by understanding better where the falcons go each year.
Bird banding is a critical part of this much-needed information and it only works when we keep a sharp eye out and report any banded American kestrels to Hawkwatch International.
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Over the past few years, HawkWatch International has been putting large colored bands with easy-to-read alphanumeric codes on numerous kestrels along the Wasatch Front for easier reading from a distance and so far I have heard of 2 birders, myself and another photographer, who has found and reported a colored leg banded kestrel on Antelope Island recently.
So keep your eye out if you’re along the Wasatch Front and you spot an American kestrel.
Pay close attention to the legs and look for a brightly colored leg band on one of the birds’ legs and report it to Hawkwatch International if you do indeed see one, noting the day, location, the band number, and which leg it was on.
Well, my friends, I hope you are getting out and doing some bird watching yourselves.
And I urge you to always keep an eye out for banded birds of any species along the way, especially if you are a photographer like I am and can take a few images to try and record the band for reporting purposes.
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I also have a small but growing YouTube channel where I post occasional updates about the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge as well as a few short nature clips when I am able to capture them on film.
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