American kestrel feeds its growing brood

The male kestrel hovers thirty feet above the meadow, wings beating in sharp flickers against the morning air. His russet back catches the light as he holds position, scanning the grass below for movement. This is hunting ground he knows well, part of the territory he and his mate have claimed for their second brood of the season.

American kestrels are the smallest falcons in North America, but what they lack in size they make up for in precision. The male drops suddenly, talons extended, and rises with a vole clutched tight. He calls once, a sharp killy-killy-killy, and flies toward the old cottonwood where his mate waits at the nest cavity. She answers from inside the hollow, her voice higher and more insistent. Four nestlings, now two weeks old, crowd the entrance as he approaches.

The female takes the vole and tears it into pieces small enough for the young birds to swallow. Kestrels nest in cavities they cannot excavate themselves, depending on old woodpecker holes, natural hollows, or nest boxes. This pair has used the same cottonwood cavity for three seasons, returning each spring to raise their young in the safety of thick bark walls. The male will make dozens of these hunting flights each day, bringing grasshoppers, beetles, small rodents, and occasionally a sparrow or finch back to the nest. His hunting style relies on patience and precise timing. He can hover motionless for minutes, reading every flicker of movement in the grass below, then strike with startling speed.

The nestlings grow quickly on this steady supply of protein. In another two weeks, they will fledge and begin learning to hunt for themselves, though they will depend on their parents for several more weeks as they master the complex skill of catching prey. The adults will continue feeding them while teaching them to recognize hunting opportunities, to read wind patterns for hovering, and to judge the right moment to dive. Young kestrels practice on insects first, then graduate to larger prey as their coordination improves. The family will stay together through late summer, the young birds gradually expanding their range as they gain confidence and skill. By autumn, they will disperse to find territories of their own, some migrating south, others remaining if prey stays abundant through winter.

The male returns to his hunting perch on a dead snag overlooking the meadow. The cottonwood leaves rustle in the breeze, and somewhere inside the cavity, the nestlings settle into quiet after their meal. If you look up at the dead branches scattered through this landscape, you might spot his silhouette against the sky, compact and alert, waiting for the next movement in the grass below.