Kestrel Time

It's that time of year again, ie, the time of year when we inspect our Kestrel boxes for signs of occupancy, and, if we are lucky, breeding. I spent three vigorous days last week with our PhD student, Claudia, and on the third also with Peter, and we found several nests with eggs. The pic shows the first nest we checked. The female will lay at least two more before she starts incubating. The white egg is from a Stock Dove that used the box previously. I think the Kestrel's is one of the prettiest eggs, but the birds that issue from them are even more gorgeous.
I hope Claudia won't mind if I publish a photograph of her too, up the ladder and happy. It was the word "gorgeous" that prompted the thought.