Feeling Abandoned

Alas, there is no joy in Mudville, the mighty kestrels have moved on.  After 4 1/2 weeks of building our hopes, the mini-raptors have disappeared.   We saw them last on Friday morning and knew there was trouble yesterday afternoon, when lowly starlings were checking out the nest box.  This morning, Don took the box down and found nesting material (including a fresh viola???) but no eggs.

Over the last month, watching the birds had become our favorite pastime.  Their courtship behavior was fascinating, with the male bringing fresh mice to the female as tokens of his affection (and fitness as a mate).  One evening, we watched them snatch nightcrawlers from the ground, following a spring rain.  There's no mention of that in the field guides.  And, lately, the female had been spending time in the box, we assumed laying eggs.

We'll never know the whole story.  Maybe something happened to one of them, though it's not likely.  Maybe the female wasn't fertile.  Maybe there was too much activity in the neighborhood, although they had been sticking around even with people and dogs walking by. 

Whatever the reason for their departure, we're thankful they stayed as long as they did.  For a month, we shared the farm with "parakeets that eat meat," and we'll never forget it.  Sarah's one of the few toddlers with "hawk" in their vocabulary.  :)

On the upside, we had a whooping crane feeding in the agricultural field across the street this week.  It was with a handful of sandhill cranes, which it dwarfed.  Considering there are only about 500 whooping cranes in the wild, more than half in the Central Flyway west of us, this was a rare event.