American Kestrel - Falco sparverius

Always fun to watch raptors in flight, but with my gear (scope + attached camera) it's hard to follow the action, much less attempt a photo. Hovering birds are an exception. As they look for mice below, like this female American Kestrel seen on a recent walk to Abbot's Lagoon, they sort of stay in one spot. Here I got off a few shots, and even with serious cropping they still show useful detail.

The female American Kestrel is easily distinguished from the male by the color of her tail and wings. The first shot shows the tail, fanned while hovering, with narrow bands of orange and black (the male has an orange tail with a black band near the tip).

 The wings of the female are seen better in the second shot, and show a similar orange and black barring like the tail colors.  

We can see the barring better when she is perched (the male has striking blue-gray wings), as in this shot from Las Gallinas some year back.

Another shot of the female Kestrel, also from Las Gallinas:

The male American Kestrel is equally striking. Took this one at County Park, Mono Lake, a while back. There are probably not many shots of a Kestrel on tufa!

The Kestrel is our smallest falcon, just a bit shorter than the fearsome Merlin, but much more slightly built. They Kestrel ranges widely across the U.S. and of course its range extends well south.