American Kestrel Wall Art By Marjolein Bastin

Image Notes "Sometimes it seems our whole house is a large nest box; there is a bird nesting on every side of it. But this year we have a very special guest indeed: the American Kestrel! Years ago a woodpecker carved a nest in one of the wood support beams, about twenty feet high. The year after that a couple of starlings occupied the nest, then a family of squirrels and last year the Wood Ducks used it. And now the American Kestrel, quite a history! Because they are so close I get a front-row seat to their lives. The male kestrel feeds his fiancee at least ten young snakes every day, I have no idea where he finds that many of them! But he has convinced her that he will make a suitable father and so they take their relationship one step further... From my studio I can see exactly what prey he comes home with: mostly small snakes, lizards, a few mice and dragonflies."