This summer Steve Gosser spent a lot of time at Piney Tract in Clarion County photographing a family of northern harriers.  The harriers nested there because it’s one of their preferred habitats and one of the few grasslands in western Pennsylvania.

Though they’re birds of prey, northern harriers (Circus cyaneus) nest on the ground.  The male harrier usually does all the hunting, then transfers the food to his mate in an aerial prey exchange.  The female takes the prey to the nest and feeds the young but she’s sneaky about it so she doesn’t give away the nest location.

Throughout their nesting season Steve was able to photograph them from his car window without disturbing them.  He captured their prey exchanges and aerial maneuvers though he never saw the nest.  Later he learned that they fledged three chicks.

Read about the harriers and see Steve’s beautiful photos at his blog post: A Summer Watching the Harriers at Piney Tract.

See all of Steve’s work at his new website, gosserphotos.com

A note to my European readers: The northern harrier is the same species as the hen harrier in Europe.

(photo by Steve Gosser)

Things got exciting on the Kestrel Nestcam in Boise, Idaho last Wednesday, April 27.  By the end of the day four of the five kestrel eggs had hatched. The fifth one hatched the next day.

Watch the first feeding in the video above.

American kestrels nest in holes and will readily use a nest box so The Peregrine Fund erected one on their campus and set up two streaming cameras — one inside the box and one outside.  Click here to watch the KestrelCam in Boise, sponsored by Bosch.

Here are some cool things you’ll notice about the kestrels:

• The chicks are all the same size because they hatched within about 24 hours. Kestrels’ synchronous hatching strategy is similar to peregrines.(*)
• American kestrels have malar stripes (mustaches) just like peregrines.
• Their markings make it look as if they have eyes on the backs of their heads.
• Kestrels are more colorful than peregrines but the mother’s plumage is muted compared to the male’s.  She’s striped and brown.  He has a cinnamon back and blue-gray wings.
• When the chicks lose their down and develop juvenile plumage, they’ll resemble their mother.

Idaho is two time zones away so you’ll see these birds in the sun for two hours after night has begun in Pittsburgh.

Thank you to “Norca” for alerting me to this Kestrel Cam.

Ooops! This morning the inside-the-box camera is down for maintenance.  Please be patient … and watch the videos listed below the cam window.

(*)  NOTE:  Hatching at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest is delayed this spring because Hope started incubation about a week before she laid the 4th egg.  Her mate E2 died March 15. Terzo arrived on or before March 23.  There was a 15 day gap between the 3rd and 4th egg.

(video from the American kestrel nestcam, The Peregrine Fund, Boise, Idaho)