The Lesser Kestrels of Matera #9
There are Lesser Kestrels before breakfast, Lesser Kestrels on the way to breakfast, a break from Lesser Kestrels for breakfast and then Lesser Kestrels after breakfast. In Matera, there are Lesser Kestrels everywhere.
We really don’t want to leave Matera, so when the hotel say we can leave our bags and stay on the terrace of our room after checking out, we take them up on the idea.
This male on the wall of the terrace is a stunner:
The view is almost as good:
I love the dinosaur-scale legs and white talons:
He preens beautifully. I manage to catch a few moments of slow-motion footage of him:
Here he is with his head buried in his feathers.
Another male flies in with a fresh kill; there’s a vole in his talons:
He’s an impressive killer, calling for his mate.
He flies onto the weather vane and there’s a moment of pure comedy gold with a cockerel:
That was definitely worth the late check-out.