Jessa photographed this rather confiding spike (tiercel) American kestrel in a meadow flanked by pines near Millen, Georgia. He definitely noticed our approach (by car), but after giving us a cursory glance went back to scanning his surroundings for prey, one foot tucked up in an obviously relaxed posture.
Something about the bird struck me as a bit different, and I'm reasonably confident—though I cannot prove—that this is Falco sparverius paulus, the Southeastern kestrel.
F. s. paulus is a non-migratory subspecies limited to the coastal plain from South Carolina to Mississippi or possibly Louisiana. The only reason for uncertainty here is timing: during the breeding season, their ranges appear to be separate, but many individuals of the nominate subspecies co-occur with paulus in the winter, and we saw the bird in March.
That being said, Millen is definitely within the range of paulus, and the pine savanna habitat is right as well. I'm going with my intuition here. And while Jessa was concerned that her photos might not turn out, I particularly love this ever-so-slightly unfocused shot, with pines in the background, for its sense of place:
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