Common name: AMERICAN KESTREL
Scientific name: Falco sparverius
Identifying characteristics:
The American Kestrel is the smallest falcon found in North America. Like all falcons worldwide, Kestrels have a dark eye, notched beak and unfeathered legs. Males have a rusty back, blue wings, and a rusty-colored tail with a black terminal band. Females have rusty wings, back and tail, all marked with black barring. Both sexes have a dark vertical line running through the eye with a white cheek and chin patches. The top of the head is blue with a rusty cap, usually brighter in males than females.
Range:
Distributed throughout the New World. Their breeding range extends as far north as central and western Alaska across northern Canada to Nova Scotia, and extends south throughout North America, into central Mexico, Central and South America. Most of the birds breeding in Canada and the northern U.S. migrate south in the winter, although some stay as year round residents.
Habitat:
American Kestrels are found in a variety of habitats including parks, suburbs, open fields, forest edges, alpine zones, and deserts. In addition to open space for hunting, kestrels need perches for hunting from and cavities for nesting. In Texas they can be found in both urban and rural areas hunting along roadsides from telephone wires or trees, or hovering like small helicopters over fields.
Nesting:
A cavity nester, kestrels will use holes in trees, artificial nest boxes, or small spaces in buildings. Both males and females incubate the eggs which hatch about 30 days after being laid. They hatch 3-5 young which grow very quickly, reaching adult weight in about 2.5 weeks and fledging about a month after hatching. They will renest if the first nest fails and have been reported to raise two broods a year in some southern states.
Feeding habits:
In summer, kestrels feed on insects which they catch either on the ground or in the air. They will also eat small rodents and birds, leading to their common name "Sparrowhawk." Wintering birds feed primarily on rodents and birds.
Conservation status:
Estimates of up to 1.2 million breeding pairs have been made for the North American population with an equal number thought to breed in the neotropics. One of the more common raptors in the midwest and south, the American Kestrel is given no special protected status in this area.
