THE ANIMAL FILES

American kestrel

Falco sparverius

A small falcon’s fence post can be a hunting platform.

American kestrels use open and semi-open places with perches and nesting cavities. They hunt insects and small vertebrates, often waiting from a perch before a direct attack. Hovering is another option, not the only way this bird finds food.[1]

Follow the evidence ↓
American kestrel
Image: Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith · Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Hunting
Perch-and-wait or aerial searching[1]
Food
Insects and small vertebrates[1]
Nest need
A suitable cavity[1]

Perches make hunting space usable

Grassland, fields and some urban spaces can supply prey, but a useful habitat also needs perches and cavities. Fence posts and wires offer positions from which to watch the ground. A broad open area without a suitable nesting hole may therefore supply food without meeting the bird’s full breeding requirements.[1]

Choosing an attack

Kestrels often watch from a perch and make a direct flight to seize prey with the talons. They also hover with rapid wingbeats or hunt low over fields. Insects, lizards and small mammals are among the foods. Observations of shifting feeding areas show that local capture success can influence where effort is spent.[1]

Calls with several contexts

A repeated klee call occurs in excitement or disturbance and is used by both sexes. Other calls accompany feeding, courtship and contact between parents and young. A call heard beside a nest does not automatically imply the same event as a similar sound from a hunting perch; behaviour and location help distinguish contexts.[1]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Must a kestrel hover before every strike?

No. Perch-and-wait hunting is a major method.[1]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

Why can a nest cavity matter even when prey is abundant?

Reveal the explanation

Food supports feeding, while a cavity provides a separate required breeding resource.[1]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Falco sparverius (adapted and translated; exact revision)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Falco sparverius (identity and game lineage)

Last fact check:

One discovery leads to another

Peregrine falconA hunting dive is not the same measurement as level flight.Falco peregrinus ↗Great titSmall feet can become a food-holding tool.Parus major ↗Common starlingA moving cloud of starlings is built from neighbours reacting to neighbours.Sturnus vulgaris ↗