The American Kestrel is our smallest, most abundant, and most vibrantly colorful Falcon. You‘ll notice our pair of year-round resident Kestrels perched on posts in the hilltop preserved Raptor Foraging Area, surveying the field for grasshoppers, lizards, and small rodents comprising their customary prey.  The more colorful male has a solid rusty back & tail with a wide black tip and contrasting blue-gray wings. Both male and female of these fiercely striking Birds of Prey sport two distinctive dark vertical face stripes.  Watch for their dramatic aerial show of slow hovering mid-air facing into the wind, flapping and adjusting their long tails to stay in place before rapidly diving to seize unwitting prey in their powerful talons.

Bird gallery

Bird of the month flyer