like a rolling ball of thunder

[pensnest]

Excitement at the bird feeder today, as we were visited by something I've not seen before, and I *think* it was a kestrel! We didn't get a very long look—it landed on the fat ball holder, observed the sudden lack of small, tasty birds in the immediate vicinity, and took off again.

Comments

[kingstoken]

Oh! That is unusual to get a predator bird at a bird feeder.

[pensnest]

It was quite a surprise! The snowberry bushes where the feeder is hanging are frequently *full* of tits and robins, though.

[turlough]

That's so cool! I've never seen a kestrel and I've never had any kind of bird of prey visit my feeders. Possibly because most of them don't stay the winter in Sweden.

[wenchpixie]

How exciting! Mum had a sparrowhawk that was a semi-regular visitor for a couple of years - often only witnessed by the sudden silence at the feeder and feathers floating down, but sometimes quite happily hanging around (grunpily looking for tiny birds, right enough)

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

We have kestrels here sometimes, but I've never seen one approach the feeders. I have seen a redtail hawk dive through a dense flock of sparrows, catch nothing, then land on a nearby branch with a distinct air of "I meant to do that."

You could crosspost stuff like this on birdfeeding.