As of late the birds have been very active and gathering in larger groups, I counted 25 Band Tailed Pigeons on the chicken pen the other afternoon and there has been a mother Kestrel and her 2 youngsters hunting the pastures around my house the past few days. Quite often I have seen raptors training their young to hunt from our rather large corttonwoods. The kestrels being a smaller bird are content to use my TV antenna on my studio deck and the nearby trees. I was fortunate to capture some shots of them.

Here is one of the three perched almost at eye level near my deck.

When I came out on the deck to take the photographs I startled them so they dispersed. I was fortunate to be fast enough to catch this shot of one of them flying right at eye level in front of me. It's a bit of a blur as this is a detail of the shot and she was at full speed flying by.

And the third went directly overhead:

I hope to catch some shots of the Pigeons as they are becoming quite comfortable here. I hope they return, I know that the Band Tailed Pigeon mates for life and since there are so many of them here this year I hope to give them a sanctuary. It's worth the bit of chicken feed they eat to have them around. I also have have had quite a lot of Hummingbirds about, and I haven't even put any feeders out this year. Perhaps that's why the Kestrels have been hanging around a lot. They are a small bird eater and Hummers are a delicacy for them. Soon they will all be gone for the winter and the fall/winter birds will arrive. I vicariously relive my days of wandering through them, the birds. Thank God for those moments of rememberance. Today is my Fathers Birthday, he turned 79, how odd to be aging, I feel so much the same as I always have, maybe just a little bit more cynical and more contemplative ( and stiff and sore). Life isn't short it's our bodies that don't last, the vessel wears out but the soul is eternal. Just as the seasons and the cycles of life come and go our souls are like the birds migrating for the winter but returning in the spring to bear it's offspring.