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January 13, 2010
American Kestrel
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Above: I spotted this American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) this morning near Morrison, Colorado. I've tentatively identified it as a female due to multiple black bands across the tail. Update from: WhatBird.com - She's a she:
"This is a female. Note the blurry rufous chest barring vs. definite black chest spots." and "The more obvious mark is that the male has blue wings rather than the black striped rufous ones on these birds. Also, along with the difference in the markings on the underside, the back of the male lacks the stripes, and instead has more sparse black chevrons near the rear of his back."
Previous American Kestrel photo.
Categories: Photos, Birds, Falcons
http://hawkmountain.org/media/kestrel.pdf
"American Kestrels have reddish-brown backs and tails, blue-gray crowns with
variable amounts of rufous, and two dark vertical stripes on the sides of their heads.
They have two dark "eyespots" on the back of their head. Male kestrels have bluegray
wings. Females have reddish-brown wings with black barring. Males have
rufous tails with one wide, black sub-terminal band and a white tip. Females have
rufous tails and many black bars. The light-colored underparts of females typically
are heavily streaked with brown; those of males have variable amounts of dark
spotting or streaking. Females are about 10-15% larger than males."
Posted by Rob Kiser on January 13, 2010 at 10:11 AM
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