December 6 2016. Burlington ON. At this low-light time of year when the urban landscape is monochromatic and the skies, as often as not, grey, then any bird seen against that sky is pretty well sure to be one of: a wind-tossed crow, a solitary gull, a flock of starlings, or, if wheeling around using the wind as an aid, a Red-tailed Hawk.
On my mostly uninspiring drive to my place of casual work I pass a rather abused and under appreciated field. Once part of a productive farm it is now squeezed between the competing space demands of a busy rail line, a highway service road and an overpass that serves to allow the cars and trucks of commerce to move more happily. Someone still takes the trouble to cut the grass and make a few rolls of hay but mostly I suspect to keep property taxes down by claiming that the land is legitimately farmed .
Along the roadside, on the other side of a gritty ditch, runs a march of utility poles, between the poles are swoops of thick cable and on the cable sits an American Kestrel; it’s there every time I drive by. Sometimes it’s moved along from one loop to another but generally it sits impassively gazing at the dry grasses below. Twice I’ve seen it drop purposefully to the ground to grab something. I wonder what it finds: a mouse, a vole – surely not grasshoppers any more.
I never linger and watch, usually I’m on my way to meet a deadline, it’s not the sort of road that encourages casual stopping anyway and I don’t have my binoculars or camera with me. And besides, that little passing glimpse of a falcon makes for a bright spot, a Bird of the Day, in an otherwise rather dreary early winter day.
Here’s a photo of another American Kestrel, another place and a sunny day.
