Stunning! :)

Holy crow this is very well done

Don't you mean "holy kestrel"? :B

(thanks!)

hahahaha That too

This is clearly a male kestrel.

Male kestrels have bluish-gray wings and lack the streaked breast of the female. Males also have barred tails. Here's a good source to compare the two genders - http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/.....can_kestrel/id There are good photos at the bottom.

The head is what says otherwise, far too vibrant and blue.

The back and the rest is right, but this here's a hermaphrodite bird.

Female kestrels often do have lighter gray heads. Here are a few examples:

http://www.onthewingphotography.com.....erson-9142.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.....an_Kestrel.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.....ey_Feather.jpg
http://featheredphotography.com/blo.....strel-6507.jpg

Here's a comparison of a female next to a male -http://www.birding.com/images/3553kes.jpg You can see that the shade of gray is very similar between the two.

Huh, I'll be damned. And burn in birdy hell.

It's okay! Many females have very dark, almost brown-gray heads. The female at the raptor center is very old, and has a nearly black head! http://i.imgur.com/vptd5y3.jpg There's variation even within the gender.

My memory of drab-colored females are more drab than I give them credit for in species variation.
My memories are drab.
I'm rather happy to be wrong, because that means you're all the more of a competent bird artist.

I've had a bit to drink today...

I just like to teach people about raptors :3 I love answering questions about them and learning new stuff myself!

<3

CAKE

Oh my gosh kestrel's! One of my favorite birds of prey! Mainly because its one of the few birds where the females can be just as gorgeous as the males. :3 <3

Kestrels are awesome - little compact falcons! They're one of the few species with significant plumage differences between the two genders, too. The only other species I can think of in the U.S. is the Northern Harrier. Barn Owls also have a little more breast speckling for the females, and Snowy Owls tend to have more black markings with the females, but that's it!

Kestrels are little compact falcons! I've always loved American Kestrels and I miss working with them back at the raptor rehab centre I used to volunteer at.

Recently, a male American Kestrel made his way into my toony-anthro commissions:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10557344/

I love your female Kestrel picture you posted in your gallery. Kestrels are so much love! :)

Adorable! I actually took a TON of photos of a Red-Crested Cardinal at the Washington DC zoo! It's so hard to find good reference photos of them, so now I have a whole folder full! :D

Yay! That's so awesome to hear that you snapped up many pictures of the red-crested cardinal at the Washington DC zoo!

I snapped a few photos of some wild red-crested cardinals in Hawaii back in December 2007. (A Hawaii trip is long overdue!) I'd love to photograph more red-crested cardinals in the wild. They were so pretty to see in Oahu!

It's always a pleasure to see your realistic avian artwork. Love seeing your natural bird art!

Very nice. :)

Kestrels are adorable but fierce! Amazing work with this.

Wonderful! I love these birds! I could swear this one was ready to just fly right out of the frame.

such a adorable kestrel!! ^.^