February 18, 2000

     American Kestrels

Lately, observers have been seeing a few American kestrels perched on utility wires in southern Minnesota -- but widely separated from one another by sometimes miles of countryside.   American kestrels are birds of prey, primarily found in open country and on the edges of forests, where they find most of their food on the ground.  In summer these small birds feed mainly on grasshoppers and other insects, but during the winter, in northern latitudes, birds and small animals are their prey.  With the greatly reduced winter food supply, it's not surprising that most of them migrate south and return in March or April.

The American kestrel, which is not much larger than a robin, is our smallest hawk.  It is the only small hawk with a rufous-red tail and an attractive black-and-white face pattern that can be seen if you get close.  It flies with great quickness, but perhaps its most remarkable aerial accomplishment is the ability to arrest its flight through the air by facing the wind and hovering in one spot.  The body is tilted upward, and the bird hovers on rapidly beating wings as it scans the ground, hunting for a mouse or, in summer, a grasshopper.