January 1, 2015
American Kestrel, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

It was a slow shooting day yesterday in Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, mostly because there was solid cloud cover all day. I almost didn't photograph this male American Kestrel or Sparrow Hawk (Falco sparverius) because of the blah sky, but it was hard to pass on the frame-filling opportunity. Fortunately while I was set up, a slightly-bluer area of clouds moved into the background which is when this image was made.