Lucky for me, pigeons and starlings roost on the building across the street from my loft – this attracts kestrels, the smallest of all falcons, to come look for a meal right outside my window.
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/coopers2016-4.jpg)
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kestrel-window4-800x533.jpg)
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kestrel-window5-800x533.jpg)
This week a young female stopped by and I was quick enough to get some pictures before she flew away. I like how the blurred bricks in the background surround her with soft pink – contrasting the rusty metal, her sharp talons and killer instincts.
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kestrel-window1-800x533.jpg)
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kestrel-window3-800x533.jpg)
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kestrels2014-window2-800x533.jpg)
Only kestrels are small enough to fit inside the pigeon nests…
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kestrel-window2-800x533.jpg)
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kestrels2014-window1-800x533.jpg)
Others will try, but are too large… this is a Red-Tailed Hawk:
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/RTH-window8.jpg)
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/RTH-window6.jpg)
This is a Cooper’s Hawk:
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/coopers-window1-800x533.png)
Big thanks to my apartment building management for agreeing to use a natural solution of pigeon control instead of poison. Today we installed a Kestrel nest box on the rooftop near where the pigeons perch and poop. Hopefully this nest box will encourage the small falcons to stay – and the pigeons to leave. You can read more about it on EcoRI.org
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/kestrelbox.jpg)
Kestrels will also assist in controlling the rodent population
![](https://providenceraptors.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/kestrels2015-4.png)
One Comment
excellent photos!! How luck you are to have them so close, they’re so much fun to watch