Kestrel's Nest: What's a Kestrel?

What's a Kestrel?

Home Contents Photos Links Email

American Kestrel, Falco sparverius
	I see you sitting erect on my fire escape, plucking at your dinner of flayed mouse, like the red strings of a harp, choking a little on the venous blue flesh and hemorrhaging tail. With your perfect black-and-white thief's mask, you look like a stuffed bird in a black case, somewhere between the animal and human life. The love word is far away. Can you see me? I am a man. No one has what I have: my long clean hands, my bored lips. This is my home: Woof-woof, the dog utters, afraid of emptiness, as I am, so my soul attaches itself to things, trying to catch something neither confessional nor abstract, like the moon breaking through the pines. American Kestrel by Henri Cole
	kes·trel, n., Any of various small falcons belonging to the genus Falco that are distributed worldwide, especially the American kestrel and the European kestrel. [Probably from obsolete French cresserelle.] kes·trel, A contraction of the name of the author of this site (removed for security reasons)
Formerly called "Sparrow-hawk," the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) is a lovely, small, widespread falcon of the Western Hemisphere. Possessing an amazing breadth of both latitudinal range (from the edge of the Arctic tundra to Tierra del Fuego) and selected habitat (found in virtually all terrestrial habitats except dense forest), kestrels are familiar to city dwellers and field birders alike. Extreme northern and southern populations are migratory, with some birds heading to warmer climes in their respective winters. Kestrels are sexually dimorphic; females are larger with rusty wings, while males are smaller with bluish-gray wings. They feed primarily on small mammals and insects, but will take other food items including small birds.
	When we think of birds of prey, we often seize on images of giant predators wheeling in the sky like fighter aircraft searching for targets. But the American Kestrel is in fact not much larger than an American Robin. Don't be fooled by the size. This raptor is armed with strong taloned feet and a powerful hooked bill. A tooth-like projection on the upper part of the beak allows the kestrel to tear apart small birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles. Insects are also consumed and when plentiful, grasshoppers constitute the staple food on the kestrel. This small predator hunts over open country and often hovers above one spot. It can be seen in fields, meadows, prairies, burntlands, woodland openings and cities. The kestrel often perches on dead-topped trees, fence posts, poles and buildings and when it perches it flicks its tail repeatedly. Kestrels are not fastidious about their accommodation. Mating begins in spring but little attempt is made to build any nest. Instead the American Kestrel will make use of a handy woodpecker hole, natural cavity, or any recess in a building or bank burrow. Four or five eggs are incubated by the female in a month. The male feeds the female during this period, then both parents share the task of feeding the fledglings until they are old enough to fly.
The Kestrel 1¢ stamp was a familiar site after the recent penny increase of the first-class postal rates. Kestrel Links: American Kestrel Nestbox Video Bird Source: Population Trends in American Kestrel Texas Parks and Wildlife - American Kestrel Iowa State College - American Kestrel Kestrel Stamps