Skip to Content
Abert’s Towhee Acadian Flycatcher Acorn Woodpecker Alder Flycatcher Allen’s Hummingbird Altamira Oriole American Avocet American Bittern American Black Duck American Coot American Crow American Dipper American Golden-Plover American Goldfinch American Kestrel American Oystercatcher American Pipit American Redstart American Robin American Three-toed Woodpecker American Tree Sparrows American White Pelican American Wigeon American Woodcock Anhinga Anna’s Hummingbird Arctic Tern Arizona Woodpecker Ash-Throated Flycatcher Atlantic Puffin Audubon’s Oriole Bachman’s Sparrow Baird’s Sandpiper Baird’s Sparrow Bald Eagle Baltimore Oriole Band-tailed Pigeon Bank Swallow Barn Owl Barn Swallow Barred Owl Barrow’s Goldeneye Bay-breasted Warbler Bell’s Vireo Belted Kingfisher Bendire’s Thrasher Bewick’s Wren Black Guillemot Black Oystercatcher Black Phoebe Black Rail Black Rosy-Finch Black Scoter Black Skimmer Black Swift Black Tern Black Turnstone Black Vulture Black-and-white Warbler Black-backed Woodpecker Black-bellied Plover Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Black-billed Cuckoo Black-billed Magpie Black-capped Chickadee Black-capped Vireo Black-chinned Hummingbird Black-chinned Sparrow Black-crested Titmouse Black-crowned Night-Heron Black-footed Albatross Black-headed Grosbeak Black-legged Kittiwake Black-necked Stilt Black-throated Blue Warbler Black-throated Gray Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Black-throated Sparrow Blackburnian Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Blue Grosbeak Blue Jay Blue-footed Booby Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Blue-headed Vireo Blue-throated Hummingbird Blue-winged Teal Blue-winged Warbler Boat-tailed Grackle Bobolink Bohemian Waxwing Bonaparte’s Gull Boreal Chickadee Boreal Owl Botteri’s Sparrow Brandt’s Cormorant Brant Brewer’s Blackbird Brewer’s Sparrow Bridled Titmouse Broad-billed Hummingbird Broad-tailed Hummingbird Broad-winged Hawk Bronzed Cowbird Brown Booby Brown Creeper Brown Pelican Brown Thrasher Brown-capped Rosy-Finch Brown-headed Cowbird Brown-headed Nuthatch Buff-bellied Hummingbird Buff-breasted Flycatcher Buff-breasted Sandpiper Bufflehead Bullock’s Oriole Burrowing Owl Bushtit Cackling Goose Cactus Wren California Condor California Gull California Quail California Thrasher California Towhee Calliope Hummingbird Canada Goose Canada Jay (Previously Gray Jay) Canada Warbler Canvasback Canyon Towhee Canyon Wren Cape May Warbler Carolina Chickadee Carolina Wren Caspian Tern Cassin’s Auklet Cassin’s Finch Cassin’s Kingbird Cassin’s Sparrow Cassin’s Vireo Cattle Egret Cave Swallow Cedar Waxwing Cerulean Warbler Chestnut-backed Chickadee Chestnut-collared Longspur Chestnut-sided Warbler Chihuahuan Raven Chimney Swift Chipping Sparrow Chuck-will’s-widow Chukar Cinnamon Teal Clapper Rail Clark’s Grebe Clark’s Nutcracker Clay-colored Sparrow Cliff Swallow Colima Warbler Common Eider Common Gallinule Common Goldeneye Common Grackle Common Ground-Dove Common Loon Common Merganser Common Murre Common Nighthawk Common Pauraque Common Poorwill Common Raven Common Redpoll Common Tern Common Yellowthroat Connecticut Warbler Cooper’s Hawk Cordilleran Flycatcher Costa’s Hummingbird Couch’s Kingbird Crescent-chested Warbler Crested Caracara Crissal Thrasher Curve-billed Thrasher Dark-eyed Junco Dickcissel Double-crested Cormorant Dovekie Downy Woodpecker Dunlin Dusky Flycatcher Dusky Grouse Eared Grebe Eastern Bluebird Eastern Kingbird Eastern Meadowlark Eastern Phoebe Eastern Screech-Owl Eastern Towhee Eastern Whip-poor-will Eastern Wood-Pewee Elegant Tern Elf Owl Emperor Goose Eurasian Collared-Dove Eurasian Tree Sparrow Eurasian Wigeon European Starling Evening Grosbeak Ferruginous Hawk Field Sparrow Fish Crow Flammulated Owl Florida Scrub-Jay Forster’s Tern Fox Sparrow Franklin’s Gull Fulvous Whistling-Duck Gadwall Gambel’s Quail Gila Woodpecker Gilded Flicker Glaucous Gull Glaucous-winged Gull Glossy Ibis Golden Eagle Golden-cheeked Warbler Golden-crowned Kinglet Golden-crowned Sparrow Golden-crowned Warbler Golden-fronted Woodpecker Golden-winged Warbler Grace’s Warbler Grasshopper Sparrow Gray Catbird Gray Flycatcher Gray Kingbird Gray Partridge Gray Vireo Gray-cheeked Thrush Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch Great Black-backed Gull Great Blue Heron Great Cormorant Great Crested Flycatcher Great Egret Great Gray Owl Great Horned Owl Great Kiskadee Great-tailed Grackle Greater Pewee Greater Prairie-Chicken Greater Roadrunner Greater Sage-Grouse Greater Scaup Greater White-fronted Goose Greater Yellowlegs Green Heron Green Jay Green-tailed-towhee Green-winged Teal Groove-billed Ani Gull-billed Tern Gunnison Sage-Grouse Gyrfalcon Hairy Woodpecker Hammond’s Flycatcher Harlequin Duck Harris’s Hawk Harris’s Sparrow Heermann’s Gull Henslow’s Sparrow Hepatic Tanager Hermit Thrush Hermit Warbler Herring Gull Hoary Redpoll Hooded Merganser Hooded Oriole Hooded Warbler Horned Grebe Horned Lark Horned Puffin House Finch House Sparrow House Wren Hudsonian Godwit Hutton’s Vireo Inca Dove Indigo Bunting Ivory-billed Woodpecker Juniper Titmouse Kentucky Warbler Killdeer King Eider King Rail Kirtland’s Warbler Ladder-backed Woodpecker Lapland Longspur Lark Bunting Lark Sparrow Laughing Gull Lawrence’s Goldfinch Lazuli Bunting Le Conte’s Sparrow Le Conte’s Thrasher Least Bittern Least Flycatcher Least Grebe Least Sandpiper Least Tern Lesser Black-backed Gull Lesser Goldfinch Lesser Prairie-Chicken Lesser Scaup Lesser Yellowlegs Lewis’s Woodpecker Limpkin Lincoln’s Sparrow Little Blue Heron Loggerhead Shrike Long-billed Curlew Long-billed Dowitcher Long-eared Owl Long-tailed Duck Louisiana Waterthrush Lucifer Hummingbird Lucy’s Warbler MacGillivray’s Warbler Magnificent Frigatebird Magnificent Hummingbird Magnolia Warbler Mallard Mangrove Cuckoo Marbled Godwit Marsh Wren Masked Duck McCown’s Longspur Merlin Mew Gull Mexican Jay Mississippi Kite Montezuma Quail Mottled Duck Mountain Bluebird Mountain Chickadee Mountain Plover Mountain Quail Mourning Dove Mourning Warbler Mute Swan Nashville Warbler Neotropic Cormorant Northern Bobwhite Northern Cardinal Northern Flicker Northern Fulmar Northern Gannet Northern Goshawk Northern Harrier Northern Hawk Owl Northern Mockingbird Northern Parula Northern Pintail Northern Rough-winged Swallow Northern Saw-whet Owl Northern Shoveler Northern Shrike Northern Waterthrush Northwestern Crow Nuttall’s Woodpecker Oak Titmouse Olive-sided Flycatcher Orange-crowned Warbler Orchard Oriole Osprey Ovenbird Pacific Golden-Plover Pacific Loon Pacific-slope Flycatcher Painted Bunting Painted Redstart Palm Warbler Pectoral Sandpiper Pelagic Cormorant Peregrine Falcon Phainopepla Philadelphia Vireo Pied-billed Grebe Pigeon Guillemot Pileated Woodpecker Pine Grosbeak Pine Siskin Pine Warbler Pinyon Jay Piping Plover Plain Chachalaca Plumbeous Vireo Prairie Falcon Prairie Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Purple Finch Purple Gallinule Purple Martin Purple Sandpiper Pygmy Nuthatch Pyrrhuloxia Razorbill Red Crossbill Red Knot Red Phalarope Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-breasted Merganser Red-breasted Nuthatch Red-breasted Sapsucker Red-cockaded Woodpecker Red-eyed Vireo Red-faced Warbler Red-headed Woodpecker Red-naped Sapsucker Red-necked Grebe Red-necked Phalarope Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Red-throated Loon Red-winged Blackbird Reddish Egret Redhead Ring-billed Gull Ring-necked Duck Ring-necked Pheasant Rock Pigeon Rock Ptarmigan Rock Sandpiper Rose-breasted Grosbeak Roseate Spoonbill Roseate Tern Ross’s Goose Rough-legged Hawk Royal Tern Ruby-crowned Kinglet Ruby-throated Hummingbird Ruddy Duck Ruddy Turnstone Ruffed Grouse Rufous Hummingbird Rufous-capped Warbler Rufous-winged Sparrow Rusty Blackbird Sabine’s Gull Sage Sparrow Sage Thrasher Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow Sanderling Sandhill Crane Sandwich Tern Savannah Sparrow Say’s Phoebe Scaled Quail Scarlet Tanager Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Scott’s Oriole Seaside Sparrow Sedge Wren Semipalmated Plover Semipalmated Sandpiper Sharp-shinned Hawk Sharp-tailed Grouse Short-billed Dowitcher Short-eared Owl Slate-throated Redstart Smith’s Longspur Smooth-billed Ani Snail Kite Snow Bunting Snow Goose Snowy Egret Snowy Plover Solitary Sandpiper Song Sparrow Sooty Grouse Sora Spotted Owl Spotted Sandpiper Spotted Towhee Sprague’s Pipit Spruce Grouse Steller’s Jay Stilt Sandpiper Summer Tanager Surf Scoter Surfbird Swainson’s Hawk Swainson’s Thrush Swainson’s Warbler Swallow-tailed Kite Swamp Sparrow Tennessee Warbler Thick-billed Murre Townsend’s Solitaire Townsend’s Warbler Tree Swallow Tricolored Heron Tropical Kingbird Trumpeter Swan Tufted Puffin Tufted Titmouse Tundra Swan Turkey Vulture Upland Sandpiper Varied Bunting Varied Thrush Vaux’s Swift Veery Verdin Vermilion Flycatcher Vesper Sparrow Violet-green Swallow Virginia Rail Virginia’s Warbler Warbling Vireo Western Bluebird Western Grebe Western Gull Western Kingbird Western Sandpiper Western Screech-Owl Western Tanager Western Wood-Pewee Western-Meadowlark Whimbrel White Ibis White-breasted Nuthatch White-crowned Pigeon White-crowned Sparrow White-eyed Vireo White-faced Ibis White-headed Woodpecker White-rumped Sandpiper White-tailed Hawk White-tailed Kite White-tailed Ptarmigan White-throated Sparrow White-throated Swift White-tipped Dove White-winged Crossbill White-winged Dove White-winged Scoter Whooping Crane Wild Turkey Willet Williamson’s Sapsucker Willow Flycatcher Willow Ptarmigan Wilson’s Phalarope Wilson’s Plover Wilson’s Snipe Wilson’s Warbler Winter Wren Wood Duck Wood Stork Wood Thrush Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay Worm-eating Warbler Wrentit Yellow Rail Yellow Warbler Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Yellow-billed Cuckoo Yellow-billed Magpie Yellow-breasted Chat Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-headed Blackbird Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-throated Vireo Yellow-throated Warbler Zone-tailed Hawk

American Kestrel

As the most common falcon species in North America, these birds are recognized for their ability to hover in mid-air while hunting for prey, their fierce and aggressive hunting behavior, and their adaptability to a range of habitats.

Meet the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), the smallest falcon in North America.

You can easily identify them by their slate-blue and rusty uppersides and pale undersides. These skilled predators mostly hunt by perching but you can also see them hovering over open fields.

Read on to discover more about them!

 

Breeding Male

Male American Kestrels have a rust-colored back and tail, slate-blue wings and head, and a pale underside.

They have two pairs of vertical stripes on their faces, black spots on their wings and back, and a black band at the tip of their tail. The black barring on their upper breast and flanks may be light or there may be none at all.

American Kestrel

© Alan D. Wilson

 

Female

Female American Kestrels have similar plumage patterns but lack the slate-blue the males have.

They have warm rust-colored uppersides with black barring and pale undersides with brown streaking. Females also have reddish-brown crowns instead of grayish-blue ones and have horizontal streaks on their tails, whereas males don’t.

Female American Kestrel

© Alan D. Wilson

Juvenile

These birds lay 2-7, most often 4-6 white to yellowish eggs that are mottled with darker colors. The eggs take 26-32 days to hatch, and the chicks stay in the nest for 28-31 days. The young depend on their parents for food and protection until about 3 weeks after fledging.

Hatchlings are covered in white down whereas juvenile American Kestrels look similar to adults.

American Kestrel’s size depends on their sex. Females grow to be about 10-15% larger than males on average. The bird can measure anywhere from 8.7-12.2 inches long and weigh between 3-6 ounces.

 

Habitat

American Kestrels inhabit any open or semi-open habitats that have adequate open hunting grounds, raised perches, and cavities for nesting. You can see them in various places, such as meadows and grasslands, parks and fields, cities and suburbs, and even deserts.

American Kestrel in a garden

American Kestrels nest in cavities in tree hollows, rock crevices, nooks in human-built structures, old woodpecker holes and old nests, and holes in cacti.

They lack the ability to create the cavity on their own, so they must find an already existing one, preferring cavities with narrow entrances.

The female creates a shallow depression in the floor of the cavity if the material allows it, but otherwise, they don’t add anything to their nest.

 

Diet

American Kestrel’s diet changes depending on the season and its location. In the summer, they primarily feed on insects, such as moths, caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, dragonflies, scorpions, and spiders. In the winter, they focus on small mammals, birds, and other such creatures, such as mice, snakes, frogs, shrews, bats, lizards, crayfish, and songbirds.

These carnivores are active during the day and have three different hunting methods: hovering, in-flight snatching, and perch-hunting. Their primary way of hunting is perch-hunting, where they sit on taller objects in or alongside open areas. When they spot their prey, they swoop down and grab it with their talons.

American Kestrel

Photograph© Glenn Bartley

You might also see them hovering with rapid wingbeats and scanning the field for prey, swooping down to catch it in a similar fashion to the previous method. In-flight snatching is mostly reserved for catching insects, although they’ve been observed to strike down small songbirds this way as well.

Kestrels are intelligent hunters and will change tactics and foraging grounds if their hunting effectiveness starts to drop. Individual birds might also specialize in hunting particular prey.

 

Behavior

American Kestrels are solitary and only pair up during the mating season. Courtship displays involve flight displays, where the female flies slowly at a lower altitude and the male at a higher one. The male calls, dives, and gives food to the female while passing her.

During the breeding season, male kestrels are territorial and mark it by flying high into the sky, diving, and calling. The female typically broods and remains with the young whereas the male brings them food.

You can see these birds attack larger aerial predators and chase off other kestrels to defend their territory and nests. Since they’re cavity nesters, they may evict other creatures with the same ideas, such as bluebirds, squirrels, and others.

American Kestrels raised in captivity are often used in falconry. Wild specimens are held in high regard because they keep pest populations under control.

 

Range (and seasonal changes)

American Kestrels range throughout the Americas from Alaska to the southern tip of South America. The populations in most of the United States and South America are year-round residents and do not migrate.

However, the birds, whose breeding range extends from Alaska throughout most of Canada to eight northern U.S. states migrate to the southern United States and Central America for the winter.

These birds are one of the most common falcons in North America. They are listed as of least concern on the IUCN Red List.

 

Wing shape

American Kestrels have narrow and moderately long wings that recede into a point at the end. Their body and wings are made for ambushing and perch-hunting, not for long and energy-consuming flights.

American Kestrel

You can recognize an American Kestrel in flight by its long, pointed wings, slender body, light underside and barred wings, and quick wingbeats with short glides thrown into the mix.

When they’re hunting, they may sometimes hover in one place, flapping just enough to keep them steady with their head typically not moving at all.

 

Fun Facts

  • When the breeding season ends, the male and female American Kestrels part ways and inhabit different places. Males prefer habitats with more trees, whereas females can be found in more open habitats.
  • The American Kestrel has 17 subspecies which are differentiated by their range, size, plumage, and vocalizations. The southern subspecies tend to be smaller in size, whereas the northern ones are larger.
  • Young American Kestrels eat around two times more than adult birds! After the offspring leave the nest, the family often hunts together as this helps the younglings practice their hunting skills before they become independent.
  • American Kestrels are commonly used in falconry. This beginner-friendly bird is generally used to flush out other birds.
  • American Kestrels can see UV light. This helps them to track their prey. If they manage to hunt enough so that some is left over, then the bird will cache it in tree roots, grass clumps, or cavities for later consumption.

 

Vocalization

American Kestrels have three basic calls that they give during courtship, feeding, or when they display excitement or stress.

The most common ones are klee or killy calls that they give 3-6 times in rapid succession. This is the easiest way to identify these birds and they give it when they’re excited or stressed.

You may hear the birds chittering during courtship, copulation, and other friendly encounters. During feeding, the birds give a long whine.

 

Similar Species

 

Merlin

Merlin

Merlin

When it comes to similarities, Merlins look the closest to American Kestrels.

Merlins are a bit bigger in size and have more grayish and raker plumage, but overall they look pretty similar. They have similar speckled patterns on their wings.

Merlins inhabit a bigger area in the United States during their non-breeding time of the year.

 

sharp-shinned-hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Although Sharp-shinned Hawks are a bit bigger than American Kestrels, they look similar, especially during flight.

American Kestrels have more brown colors on their plumage (especially on the back and wigs), whereas Shapr-shinned Hawks look more gray. Sharp-shinned Hawks also have broader tails and wings.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Are American Kestrels rare?

American Kestrels are the most common falcons in the United States.

What is special about kestrels?

Kestrels can hover while scanning the ground for food.

Is an American kestrel a hawk or a falcon?

American Kestrel is a falcon.

Where does the American Kestrel live?

American Kestrels range throughout the Americas from Alaska to the southernmost tip of South America. They can be found in almost all open and semi-open habitats that have open ground for hunting, tall objects for perching, and cavities for nesting.

About the Author

Heleen Roos

Heleen has loved the outdoors and nature since childhood and has always been fascinated with birds, leading her to research more about them. She has accumulated a lot of knowledge about their behaviors and habits through birdwatching tours and her own explorations. Her goal is to share the most interesting and useful facts about them.

Let others know your thoughts or ask an expert

Would you like to get new articles of birds (Once a month?)

No SPAM! We might only send you fresh updates once a month

Thank you for subscribing!

No thanks! I prefer to follow BirdZilla on Facebook