Yesterday was a nice winter day, with the temperature approaching the 50s, so I stood out in the backyard for about forty minutes, looking for any birds that might happen to fly or land close enough to photograph with a 55-200mm lens (currently my longest lens). During that time, an American kestrel landed on a light pole in the nearby rodeo grounds. While the bird was too far away for me to take a detailed photo, there happened to be a little chunk of rainbow (more on that below) behind it, which made for some neat silhouette shots.
After a little web research, I found out that the small section of rainbow is called a sun dog, which is part of an optical effect caused by ice particles in the atmosphere. Sun dogs are not uncommon, but this might be the first time I’ve seen one – definitely the first one with a falcon in front of it!
Amazing Photos! Never heard of a Sun Dog, Very interesting and beautiful!
Thank you.
That is interesting! I like the Kestrel! A very cool falcon! 🙂
Yes, it is. I hope it or another one might decide to land a little closer for a photo op one of these days.