American Kestrel
Falco sparverius
Least Concern (IUCN Red List)Falcons and Caracaras
Photo: Beto_MdP · Pixabay · Pixabay Content License (licence)
Call and song
Recording 1 · call
Recording 2
Recording 3
About the American Kestrel
Petite falcon roughly the same size as Mourning Dove, but with a larger head and wider tail. In flight, note long, narrow wings and square-tipped tail. Often seen perched on telephone wires, along roadsides, in open country with short vegetation and few trees. From a perch or hovering, they usually drop to the ground to snatch small mammals and insects. Nests in cavities. Widespread across the Americas.
Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made
Where it has been recorded
Recorded in 58 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.
- Anguilla
- Antarctica
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Aruba
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bermuda
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Canada
- Caribbean Netherlands
- Cayman Islands
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Curaçao
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
- Germany
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Martinique
- Mexico
- Montserrat
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Portugal
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Barthélemy
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Martin (French part)
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Sint Maarten
- Spain
- Suriname
- Switzerland
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Virgin Islands (British)
- Virgin Islands (U.S.)
