American Kestrel

Falco sparveriusOrder: FALCONIFORMES Family: Falcons (Falconidae)

Codes: Common Name: AMKE Scientific Name: FALSPA ITIS Taxonomic No.: 175622

Related Birds

Cooper's Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Prairie Falcon
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Gyrfalcon
Eurasian Hobby
Aplomado Falcon
Eurasian Kestrel

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Overview

American Kestrel: Smallest North American hawk, has two distinct black facial stripes, rust-brown tail and back, slate-blue wings, black-spotted underparts. Eats bats, rodents, insects, frogs, small reptiles, and birds. Alternates several rapid wing beats with glides, also hovers. Soars on thermals.

Range and Habitat

American Kestrel: Breeds from Northwest Territories and Alaska east through Maritime Provinces and south throughout most of the continent. Usually winters north to British Columbia, Great Lakes, and New England. Preferred habitats include towns, cities, parks, farmlands, and open country.

Topo Map: Hawk-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"klee-klee-klee", "killy, killy, killy"

Interesting Facts

The American Kestrel is the most common falcon in North America.

The females arrive first on their winter range and establish their territories in the preferred open areas. The males, arriving later are forced to use areas with more trees.

Nestlings squirt their feces onto the walls of the nest cavity. The feces dry on the cavity walls and stay off the nestlings.

A group of kestrels are collectively known as a " flight", " hover", and "soar" of kestrels.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

Yury Lisyak

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

American Kestrel

● Song: "klee-klee-klee", "killy, killy, killy"

● Foraging & Feeding: American Kestrel: Hunts in early morning and evening in summer, eating mostly large insects such as grasshoppers. During winter months, hunts throughout daylight hours and eats small mammals, birds, and amphibians.

● Breeding & nesting: American Kestrel: Female is promiscuous, mating with two or three males prior to settling with a single mate. Three to seven white or pale pink eggs are laid, usually in a tree cavity. Incubation ranges from 29 to 30 days and is carried out by the female; however, the male occasionally takes over incubation duties.

● Similar species: American Kestrel: Sharp-shinned Hawk is larger with rounded wings and different overall pattern. Merlin is larger with broader-based wings, lacks rust-brown tones on back and wings, has single moustache stripe mark, and strongly checkered underwings.

Flight Pattern

Soars on thermals., Several rapid wing beats followed by a glide., Often hovers on rapidly beating wings.

● Range & Habitat: American Kestrel: Breeds from Northwest Territories and Alaska east through Maritime Provinces and south throughout most of the continent. Usually winters north to British Columbia, Great Lakes, and New England. Preferred habitats include towns, cities, parks, farmlands, and open country.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight3.9 Ounces

Hawk-like Body

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America