The American kestrel used to be called a sparrow hawk before being renamed. Actually, they are the smallest falcon and are quite common in Wallowa County.

They are cavity nesters and usually use old woodpecker holes in dead snags to raise their chicks, but will readily take to bird houses nailed to telephone poles. They tend to use open country, but can be seen on telephone wires where they can watch for mice in grassy fields. They can also hover like the redtailed hawks to scan the open fields for prey.

Most of them migrate to warmer climates in winter, but you can see a few kestrels all winter long here in winter. They have to live on mice in winter, but when summer comes and they have chicks to feed, they bring in a variety of prey such as garter snakes, gophers and grasshoppers. When grasshoppers are plentiful, kestrels dive down in the grass and pick up the larger ones to feed their young. Kestrels dont seem to have any enemies and I have never observed them killing small songbirds, but maybe they do on rare occasions.

One place to observe kestrels is out on the Zumwalt Prairie. I have watched whole families of them where their young are still being fed by their parents long after they have left the nest. I guess all birds of prey have to go through a longer training period before they can become hunters on their own