Nearly a month ago, I published a post about this American Kestrel that suddenly arrived in our neighborhood. You can see the original pictures here. I was happy to get the pictures I did that day since I hadn’t seen this bird before and I was able to mark it off of my lifetime birding list. I wasn’t sure I would get another opportunity like this. As a novice “bird watcher,” this is exciting stuff. I understand that Kestrels are one of the few birds that will eat other birds.

The pictures aren’t great, but as a record of spotting this bird, they would suffice. I use a Canon SX50 HS which has a 50x zoom that goes from 24mm to 1,200mm. One would think that it would deliver an up close and personal view of anything you wanted, but often even that reach doesn’t seem long enough.

Since then, we have watched as a Curve-billed Thrasher took to the offense to try and keep the Kestrel away from its nest and other neighborhood birds have become a bit uneasy as well.

Imagine my surprise when I walked in the courtyard this morning and saw this:

As a matter of perspective, here is a picture taken when we had been in the house only a while and it will give you an idea of the location of the fountain on which the bird has perched.

And here is one last picture of this very pretty bird.

Amazingly, the bird sat on top of this fountain for more than twenty minutes. I was able to get within 15 feet of it and the only thing it did was shift its weight. The bird was extremely alert and it was riveted on my every move. You can envision what a hunter a bird like this can be with those big eyes and talons!