The American Kestrel is North America's smallest falcon — barely bigger than a Mourning Dove — and arguably its most colorful raptor. Males pair slate-blue wings with a rusty back and tail; both sexes wear crisp double mustache stripes. Look for kestrels on roadside wires above open Michigan farmland, pumping their tails, or hovering in place on rapid wingbeats — "windhovering" — before dropping onto prey.
Kestrels are cavity nesters that readily accept nest boxes, which matters because their numbers have slid across the continent for decades — lost hunting habitat, vanished nest cavities, and pesticides that thin their insect prey all likely share blame. Box programs along Michigan farm roads are helping.
Grasshoppers, crickets, and dragonflies through the warm months; voles, mice, and small birds when insects wane. Kestrels can see the ultraviolet glow of vole urine trails — a built-in prey map of any field.
A kestrel windhovering — flying in place against the breeze while it scans for prey below. No other small Michigan raptor hovers like that.
Their continental population has declined significantly for decades. Grassland loss and a shortage of nest cavities are prime suspects — putting up kestrel boxes on farm fenceposts is the most direct way to help.
Occasionally in winter, but insects and rodents dominate their diet. They're more farmland hunters than feeder ambushers — that role belongs to the Cooper's Hawk.
Yes, in any month. Numbers stay fairly steady from month to month. Winter is often the easiest time to find them, with bare branches, open sightlines, and snow cover concentrating birds at reliable food.
Juvenile males have a streaked rather than plain breast and heavier back barring, and both sexes have paler, duller face markings. Sexing is straightforward at any age — only males have the blue-gray wings.
Other birds you might be looking at instead.
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