I saw this very interesting-looking bird on the deck railing a couple of times yesterday. It even flew to the top of the finch feeder once, like it was looking for something to eat. I'd never seen anything like it before. Of course I grabbed the camera, but the pics I got aren't very clear because I didn't dare get very close to the window.
It gave me some pretty good views...
... and even turned around once so I could get a shot of its back and wings.
(Click any photo to enlarge.)
Now Dale probably knows right off the bat what it is. He knows his birds! I, on the other hand, had to do some searching. I paged through my bird book, but I didn't see anything that I thought really looked like it. However, I hadn't yet loaded the pics onto my computer. After doing that, I got a much better look. Then I went to my favorite bird-identifying site, Whatbird.com. There you can search by all kinds of criteria such as shape, size, color, bill shape, etc., and gradually narrow it down until you identify your bird.
My bird turned out to be a female American Kestrel, which is a type of falcon. How 'bout that... a falcon on my deck railing! I think it's pretty cool! And cooler yet is the fact that I happened to SEE it, and even cooler YET that I managed to get photos of it!
