Raptors

Last night we attended the 75th Annual Meeting of the Montgomery County Soil and Water Conservation District.  The room was full of old photographs and old friends so it was a pleasant evening.  The program for the evening was presented by the World Bird Sanctuary.  Over the years, I have seen their presentations several times.  They change each time.  Several of the birds were not native to our area, but the two below are.  I have never seen a barn owl in the wild, but the one below is a beauty.

The American Kestral is very common in our are and Paige Davis, the presenter, added to my knowledge of the bird.  The Kestral is also known as a sparrowhawk.  I always thought that was because of their small size, but it is because some ornithologists thought they ate mainly sparrows and other small birds.  The Kestral is a falcon and closely related to the Peregrine Falcon.  They are capable of high speed dives and their peak will kill preay much bigger than them.

Barn Owl

American Kestral