The American Kestrel is the smallest falcon in North America and the second smallest falcon in the world. This species can often be observed hunting in open fields or along road-sides. Kestrels often hover above prey like a helicopter before swooping down for a capture.

Length: Overall length is 21.6 to 30.5 cm with a wingspan of 53 cm. Females are slightly larger than males.

Physical Characteristics: This small falcon has a gray crown and a white face with black vertical bars, one under and one slightly behind each eye. The adult male has a rust colored spot on the crown, along with a rust colored nape, breast, back and tail. The upper wings are a blue-gray with white spotting. The female has a pale buff breast with streaks of brown and brown wings spotted with white. The beak is short and hooked and the wings are long, narrow and pointed.

Voice: Call is a high, shrill killy killy killy or klee klee klee.

Breeding habitat:
Nesting habitat is typically open wooded areas or grasslands with scattered trees. This bird is found in agricultural and urban areas. It may nest along roadways, ponds, streams and forest edges.

Mating system:
Promiscuous behavior may occur before pair bonding, otherwise this is considered a monogamous species. Generally one brood is produced in a season; two may be raised in the south or in areas of plentiful food.

Nest:
American Kestrels usually nest in tree cavities, preferring natural cavities, a woodpecker hole or a crevice in the tree. It will use appropriate nest boxes. The nest is often a shallow scrape, with no added nesting material. If a second brood is produced the nest from the first brood may be reused.

Eggs:
A typical clutch contains 3 to 5 eggs that are white to pinkish-white and sometimes marked with browns. 35mm (1.4 in).

Chick development:
The female usually does most of the incubation while being fed by the male, but the male will also sit. The incubation period is from 29 to 31 days. The chicks are semialtricial when first hatched. When the nestlings are very young, the female will take food from the male to feed the chicks. After about three weeks the chicks will beg for food themselves, and both parents will hunt. The young leave the nest after 30 days.

Diet:
Kestrels will often hunt from a high perch, scanning the surrounding area for prey. It will also hover in the air, swooping down when prey is sighted. These birds prey on a variety of small mammals, small birds, reptiles and insects (particularly the grasshopper).

Conservation Biology: Some populations, particularly those in New England and Florida have seen declines. Most other area populations appear to be stable. Of most concern is the loss of, and competition for, suitable nesting sites, which may limit population growth. Nesting boxes may provide nest sites in areas where natural cavities are limited.

Special Protection Status:
Rangewide: None.
Region: On the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program Watch List as a species known to be declining in the state and with increasing amount of threats to its habitat; may need listing in upcoming years (2001).

Breeding: The American Kestrel occurs from below tree line in Canada and throughout the United States south to Mexico.

Winter: This species is partially migratory; birds in most of the United States and southward are permanent residents. Kestrels from Canada and the northern states who winter in Florida, avoid territories of the resident birds. They occur as far south as Panama in the winter. During this season the sexes frequent different habitats, with the male being found in dense vegetation and the female preferring more open areas.

The American Kestrel is an uncommon year-round resident bird species in the Park Because of its preference for open areas for hunting, in the Smokies this species is most likely to be observed in Cades Cove or along the park boundary. Kestrels are more common in the winter than in the breeding season. In a survey of breeding birds of breeding birds performed in the park, from 1996 to 1999, only a single American Kestrel was observed.

References:

Alsop, F. J. 1991. Birds of the Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, Gatlinburg, TN.

Bent, A. C. and Collaborators. 1996 - 2002. American Kestrel, In Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds, ed., Patricia Query Newforth.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.

Ehrlich, P. R, D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.

Elphick, C, J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.

Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Smallwood, J. A. and D. M. Bird. 2002. American Kestrel. In The Birds of North America, No. 602 (A. Poole, P. Stettenheim, and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, DC: The American Ornithologists' Union.

Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.