Birds of Illinois

Another one of those times when its good to have the camera handy!! I was driving back from the Hawk Watch (sadly the last time this year) and saw this American Kestrel on power lines by the side of the road. I stopped as quickly (& safely) as I could and snapped a few photos while it completely ignored me.

The road it was on was quite busy and large trucks were going by regularly. Nevertheless I did get out and take a few more shots. It continued to ignore me the whole time. This is a handsome male kestrel. If you look carefully you can see a small blood stain just above the left foot - probably from its last kill! He was along IL route 83 and I think in Gurnee but I'm not 100% sure of the town as I don't know that area all that well.