American Kestral
Identification Tips:
- Length: 8.5 inches Wingspan: 21 inches
- Short, dark, hooked beak
- Small, long-tailed hawk
- Long, narrow, pointed wings
- Gray crown
- White cheeks
- Two black mustache marks
- Black spot at rear of crown on both sides
- Seen from below, flight feathers are pale with dark barring
- Juveniles and immature females like adult female
Adult male:
- Rust patch on crown
- Rust nape, breast, back and tail
- Rust tail has a broad black subterminal band and a narrow white terminal band
- Pale belly
- Blue-gray wing coverts
- Dark flight feathers with pale subterminal spots creating a “string of pearls”
- Black spots on scapulars, wing coverts and flanks
Adult female:
- Pale buff breast streaked with brown
- Rust-brown nape, back and wing coverts
- Back and wing coverts barred heavily with black
- Rust-brown tail with numerous dark bars of even width and a narrow white terminal band
Immature male:
- Barred rust-brown back barred heavily with black
- Streaked breast
I love this Bird – The American Kestral
