American Kestrel

The American Kestrel is North America's smallest falcon, roughly the size of a Mourning Dove but boasting the fierce, predatory nature of a raptor. Highly colorful and sexually dimorphic, this species displays striking patterns of warm rufous, slate blue, and prominent facial stripes. It is a common and welcome sight across open landscapes, where it can often be spotted scanning the ground from utility lines or hovering with rapid wingbeats over grassy fields.

To identify an American Kestrel, look for a small, sleek falcon profile with pointed wings. Both sexes feature two bold black vertical stripes on a white face (resembling a 'mustache' and 'sideburns') and two dark ocelli, or 'false eyespots,' on the back of the neck.

• Males: Have blue-gray wings, an unspotted slate-blue crown, a warm rufous back with sparse black spots, and a bright rufous tail with a single, thick black subterminal band.
• Females: Are slightly larger and heavier than males. They have warm rufous-brown wings and backs heavily barred with dark brown, and a rufous tail featuring numerous narrow, dark bars.

Similar Species: The Merlin (Falco columbarius) is larger, stockier, lacks the bright rufous colors, and does not have the clean double facial stripes of the kestrel. Sharp-shinned Hawks have rounded wings and lack the pointed wingtips and classic falcon facial patterns.

American Kestrels thrive in open and semi-open habitats. They are frequently found in grasslands, meadows, deserts, savannas, agricultural fields, and transport corridors, provided there are elevated perches and low vegetative cover for hunting. Their geographic range spans from northern Canada and Alaska, across the United States, through Central America, and deep into South America. Northern populations are migratory, moving south to temperate and tropical regions for the winter, while southern populations remain resident year-round.

Active daytime predators, kestrels have an instantly recognizable hunting technique called 'windhovering.' When head-winds permit, they flap their wings rapidly to hang stationary in mid-air, keeping their head perfectly still to focus on movement below before diving. They also hunt from high perches like telephone wires and fence posts.

• Voice: Highly vocal during the breeding season and when threatened, their primary call is a quick, high-pitched, metallic 'klee-klee-klee-klee' or 'killy-killy-killy.'
• Nesting: Kestrels are secondary cavity-nesters, meaning they do not build their own nests. Instead, they use old woodpecker holes, natural tree cavities, gaps in buildings, or human-installed nest boxes, laying eggs directly on the organic debris at the base of the cavity.
• Feeding Habits: During summer, their diet consists primarily of large insects such as grasshoppers, beetles, and dragonflies. In winter, they shift to small mammals like voles and mice, as well as lizards, frogs, and small songbirds.