Species Profile: The Southeastern American Kestrel

Southeastern American Kestrel. Photo by Tammy Poulnott / Birds Georgia Photographers Network.

If the Southeastern American Kestrel isn’t a bird you often think about or are even familiar with, that might be about to change.

Birds Georgia is introducing a Georgia Birding Trail of premier birding sites throughout the state and has chosen this bird, an iconic cavity-nesting species that is a subspecies of the American Kestrel, to adorn its logo. An Atlanta-based firm, Radical Designs, came up with the artwork that will be used in Georgia Birding Trail signage, stickers, and patches.

The SEAK, an unofficial name for this bird, is a non-migratory resident across the Southeast, particularly in Florida, and usually requires open, fire-maintained sandhills, savannahs, and grasslands. The Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida says they can sometimes be found in pastures and open fields near residential areas as well.

According to Brooke Michael, Birds Georgia’s communications coordinator: “They are
declining due to habitat loss, habitat mismanagement, and a loss of natural nest sites. You can find kestrels throughout the state by exploring in the right habitat and keeping your eye to the sky, and several of our Georgia Birding Trail sites will be in kestrel habitat.”

As for the bird itself, it is the smallest falcon in the United States – about the size of a
Mourning Dove. It measures 7 to 8 inches long with a wingspan of 16½ to 18 inches,
about one-quarter smaller than its cousin, the American Kestrel. The male has blue-
gray wings and a rusty back, a blue-gray crown with a small, rusty “cap,” no spots on its
breast, and only a few on its belly. The female is larger and has a more uniformly rufous
back and wings and more breast streaking. Both sexes have a black-and-white facial
pattern with perpendicular lines extending below the eye and a black band on a rufous
tail. Their alarm call, given in flight, is “killy, killy, killy.”

The breeding season in Georgia begins in late March or April when the male escorts the
female to potential nest sites within his territory. This bird traditionally uses a tree cavity,
usually an abandoned woodpecker home, but will also move into a nest box or the
hollow cross-member pipes on power poles, where they often displace European
Starlings.

The kestrels are insulated from excessive heat in the metal pipes by the nesting
material the starlings brought in, allowing them to incubate eggs and rear young in
these structures. Unfortunately, when older structures are replaced, the new ones often
don’t have any hollow cross arms, robbing the bird of a place to nest. The power
companies have sometimes mitigated this by providing nesting boxes, however. Mostly the female will incubate four to six white to pale brown eggs, spotted with brown and
gray, for 29 to 30 days, and both parents raise the young.

As for its feeding habits, the SEAK typically swoops from a perch on a tree, post or
power line to grab insects and lizards. It also eats small rodents, birds and other
reptiles.

Some of the current sites on the birding trail that have the kestrels as a "featured bird" include Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Mansfield, Clybel Wildlife Management Area,
also in Mansfield, Di-Lane Wildlife Management Area in Waynesboro, Euchee Creek
Greenway in Grovetown, E.L. Huie Ponds in Clayton County, Shamrock and Blalock
Reservoirs and Recreation Area in Jonesboro, and Phinizy Swamp Nature Park in
Augusta. Many more Georgia Birding Trail sites will be added in the coming months that will also feature kestrels.

By Steve Phenicie, writer and Birds Georgia member

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