Grey Kestrel, originally uploaded by andyskelton-a Blog a day http://andrewskelton.net.How absolutely typical, I’ve been looking forward to posting this image to Flickr as well as writing about it and as soon as I do, I’m stuck for words (is that cheering I can here coming down from the Internet and being relayed by my wireless router?).
For once, I’m very pleased that the taxonomic system for naming birds is not too imaginative; I had wondered what this bird was when I saw it (details to follow) – it was obvious a falcon, and it didn’t take too much to work out that being grey colour that is was a Grey Falcon.. erm I mean a Grey Kestrel – the grey falcon is a very different bird, in fact I would go as far to say that I will be referring to the Trade Descriptions Act of 2010 (the 1968 vintage is certainly good, but I tend to find it a bit corked) as it’s not exactly what you call grey.
The Grey Kestrel is unequivocally grey. It’s greyer than a grey horse lost in a grey fog, under the greyest sky every… and then some… and then a bit more. And a bit more.
The bird was sitting on a bush as we were driving through the Masai Mara trying to head off a troup of Baboons. Our eagle eyed (ten times better than a falcon in a game of Top Trumps) guide, William, spotted the bird and we pulled up along side long enough to take a few snaps, and luckily (actually it took a lot of skill, determination and pre-planning to get the shot… okay it was luck) I managed a few frames that were more than decent.
Looking back through the images of Kenya this evening, I do feel a little homesick… not sure how that can be but I’d certainly like to be out on the Mara about now, though being two hours ahead of the UK, and it’s currently late evening, I suspect there might be a few closer encounters than I experienced when I was there. I’m not sure I’m ready to be a Lion’s dinner just yet… or at all for that matter.
Andrew Skelton: 
Leave a Reply