View the American Kestrel photography of Bruce Dayton

American Kestrel
Falco sparverius

Small hawk
Rufous back and tail
Two dark mustache marks on face
Size: 9-12 in
Wingspan: 20-24 in
Weight: 2-6 ounces
Male has blue-gray wings and a lightly spotted chest and belly. The larger female has rufous wings barred with black, and streaking on the chest

Syllables: A-mer-i-can Kes-trel
Pronunciation: E meh rih kEn keh strEl



American Kestrel
1-1	AmKs_10x08_005813	8x10 Print	$10.00


American Kestrel
2-1	AmKs_08x10_007312	8x10 Print	$10.00


American Kestrel
3-1	AmKs_08x10_007315	8x10 Print	$10.00
3-2	AmKs_11x14_007315	11x14 Print	$25.00


American Kestrel
4-1	AmKs_08x10_007330	8x10 Print	$10.00


American Kestrel
5-1	AmKs_08x10_007681	8x10 Print	$10.00


American Kestrel
6-1	AmKs_08x10_008069	8x10 Print	$10.00

NOTES

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The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
is a small falcon.

Adults are 23-27 cm in length and weigh 85-140 g (3 to 5 ounces). They have white cheeks with two black vertical lines, one in front of the eye and one at the ear. They have long slim pointed wings, a blue-gray cap and a long chestnut tail. Their back is chestnut with black bars.

Adult males have a chestnut patch on top of the head; their wings are blue-gray, their belly is pale and their tail has a black band near the end. Adult females have chestnut wings with black bars and chestnut streaks on the breast; their heads are duller in color. The call of the American Kestrel is a shrill killy-killy-killy sound.

Their breeding habitat is open and semi-open areas across most of North America to South America. They nest in a cavity; they will also use nesting boxes. The male provides food for the female during nesting.

Birds in northern Canada and Alaska migrate further south. Their favorite habitats are the borders of woodlands, farmlands, open fields, pastures with scattered trees, suburban areas, grasslands, marshes, deserts with giant cacti, and forest openings. This small falcon species is common in North America, but a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

These birds wait on a perch or hover over open areas with rapid wing beats and swoop down to capture prey; they also catch prey in flight. They mainly eat large insects, small mammals, small birds and reptiles.

This bird was formerly known as the Sparrow Hawk. This name was unfortunate because it implied a connection with the Old World Sparrow hawk Accipiter nisus, which is unrelated - the latter is a hawk rather than a falcon.

Category: Falcons

American Kestrel

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:   Chordata
Class:   Aves
Order:   Falconiformes
Family:   Falconidae
Genus:   Falco
Species:   F. sparverius

Binomial name
Falco sparverius Linnaeus