The American Kestrel
Happy Thor’s day! Donnerstag! Anyway, it’s the day of the thunder god and I felt like doing a nature post in his honor.
Back in my college days I worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. My main duties mostly were on the fire department doing prescribed burns of prairies and oak savannas, but occasionally I did some wildlife management plans as well.
My first management plan was of the bird of prey, the American Kestrel which is a falcon. This was my first experience with this bird and I knew little about them; however, there was a farmer who wanted the kestrel population up to keep the mice population down and the service part of the Fish and Wildlife service means sometime helping people manage their properties, so we did!
The only work I did was on the plan itself, I never did any of the implementation of the management plan as that is left up to the farmer. We surveyed the sight, wrote the plan, and then offered our suggestions and cost analysis to the farmer. It cannot be said if he ever implemented the plan or not, but I sure hope he did because these are some amazing birds!
The American Kestrel(Falco sparverius) is a relatively small bird of prey (9½ - 10 ½ inches or 24 – 27cm), the smallest falcon in North America. It is the only falcon with a rufous back and tail.
(NCRS Photo)
The male has blue-gray wings and a thick black band at the tip of its tail. The female has horizontal barring from her neck to tip of her tail along the mantle. Both sexes have a double malar stripe on their face and eye-spots on back of their head.
The kestrel usually sits erect with bobbing tail or hovers on frequently beating wings while searching for prey. When they are out in search of a meal or a mate you can hear a high pitched klee klee klee or killy killy killy.
Here are some similar species that are often confused with the Kestrel; Merlin (rarely seen perching) Sharpshinned hawk (rounded wings, very long tail, gray or brown in color) neither species hovers.
The American Kestrel enjoys a habitat of farmlands, open country, wood edges, residential areas, dead trees, wires, and roadsides (NCRS).
I hoped you liked my falcon feature today! These birds are truly amazing to observe and we are lucky to have them. Get out there, take some time, and see the beauty we are surrounded with every day!
Source: United States. NCRS. USDA. Wildlifehc.org. Wildlife Habitat Council, Apr. 1999. Web. 17/10/2019.
These are gorgeous birds I have never seen one in the wild. What part of the US can they be found?
As far as I know, everywhere. They are pretty Illusive though. I was up by the twin cities in MN when I did this plan. I saw a few in the wild but my buddy was a falconer and he had one. Really cool!
Posted using Partiko iOS
One more thing, they are very territorial and picky on nesting so you just gotta know where to look!
Posted using Partiko iOS
I see these in the forests here. They have a distinct look to their wings, the falcon look, and I see them lower in the trees near clearings where as the bigger falcons are tree tops and cliffs. Occasionally we have them check us out on the rock if they are hunting the mice in the cracks.
Yeah they seem to like to next a little lower to the ground. The problem is that red tail hawks hunt them as well
Posted using Partiko iOS
Thank you!
Posted using Partiko iOS
Lovely bird, don't get them here though! We have to stick to our Buzzards
Lovely bird, don't get
Them here though! We have to stick
To our Buzzards
- c-a
I'm a bot. I detect haiku.
Too bad! But I rarely saw them in the wild but they are out there.
Posted using Partiko iOS
Hi, thanks for the post! I have included it in my daily Science and technology digest, and you'll receive a 10% share of that post's rewards.
I am honored, thank you!
Posted using Partiko iOS
Howdy sir badger! What a fantastic bird! It would be great to work with those or even have some around! I hope they do well and prosper everywhere.
Same here @janton! Thanks for checking it out!