Let me touch on a subject that has been published already and I think is fairly well-known. Juvenile male Kestrels molt their body feathers in their first fall (often on migration). This is unlike other raptors, making them tricky to age in flight. To start, juveniles have whitish chests with black streaks, but can be seen in different stages of body molt until they acquire a complete adult orange breast by late fall. Some birds molt quicker than others, as is true for all raptors. Often, it is possible for bird banders to age male Kestrels during fall migration, but toward the end of fall, it can be difficult. And, of course, and Kestrel molting flight feathers in fall is an adult. Also, bird banders can look to see if fault bars are present in the wings or tail, but this is impossible to see in flight.
Check out these photos below ("click" to enlarge) and see if you can age them...
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Nope, I can't age them, at least not with any confidence. But I'll be hanging around to see what others might have to say...
Oh, I realize my wording sounds like a quiz, didnt mean for that. Just meant to show juveniles in different stages of fall molt but photographed around the same time. Only one bird is an adult shown for comparison...7th bird down.
Needed a camera sensor cleaning on some of these!
The 7th bird down is an adult because it lacks any streaking on the breast? This is good stuff by the way. Glad you are revisiting it.
Yes Bryce, although its tough to see the left over streaking on 5, 6, and 8.
Interesting, something I knew about but really didn't know if you get what I mean. Nice to see these examples.
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