Notes from the Mouse Hole Printable Page

American Kestrel

	Scientific name: Falco sparverius
	Family name: Falconidae
	Are they endangered? No, they are not endangered worldwide. (IUCN Red list: Least concern)
	What are their past/present problems? The habitat where these birds live is being taken away for development. Their enemies are Cooper’s Hawks. European Starlings move in and take the same nests that the American Kestrel would take.
	What do they look like? American Kestrels are very colorful birds. The male and female look different. They have rusty brown backs with black spots. The male wings are blue-grey with black spots and the female has brownish wings with black stripes. Their eyes and above their beaks (cere) are yellow. They have a black line before and below their eye. Their tails have rusty brown, black, and white bands on the feathers. They have a blue-gray band around their heads.

	How big are they? They are about 1 foot long. If they spread their wings out, they would be about 2 feet wide.
	How many eggs do they lay? Females lay between 4 and 6 white or light beige eggs once a year. The eggs hatch in a month.
	How long do the fledglings stay in the nest? They nest in tree holes, small openings in house and building walls and eaves, nesting boxes. They don’t put nesting sticks, twigs, or leaves in the nest but keep it as they found it. The young birds leave the nest in about 30-31 days.
	When do they hunt? They hunt during the day. (diurnal)

	What do they eat? Kestrels like to eat frogs, bats, small birds (sparrows), and MICE!
	Where do they live? They live in South America, the Caribbean Islands, Central America, Canada, the United States, Mexico and the Virgin Islands.
	What kind of place do they like to live in? They like to live around fields, farms, deserts, towns, and open forests.
	Interesting facts: They used to be called the Sparrow Hawk because they like to eat sparrows.

Works Cited:

Alsop, Fred. Birds of North America. New York: DK Publishing, 2001.

National Audubon Society. First field guide: Birds. New York: Scholastic, 1998.

Schmoker, Bill. “Re: Owl pictures (etc.).” [American Kestrel flying] E-mail to Club Web. 2 Nov. 2007.

Vanner, Michael. Field guide to the birds of North America. United Kingdom: Parragon, 2006.