American Kestrel

Roughly the size and shape of a Mourning Dove, North America's littlest falcon packs a predator's fierce intensity into its small body. It's one of the most colorful of all raptors; the male's slate blue head contrasts elegantly with a rusty-red back and tail. Hunting for insects, small rodents, and birds in open territory, kestrels perch on wires or poles, or hover facing into the wind, flapping and adjusting their long tails to stay in place. Kestrels are declining in parts of their range, but you can help them by putting up nest boxes.