What Raptor is this?

[TammyTX]

That is the right word? Raptor?

He was on my fence just a few moments ago...does he smell little chicks or what?

I looked quickly on the web but I didn't see anything like him/her.

**I forgot to add it was just a bit larger than a dove**

 

[Buster]

Looks like a Kestrel to me.

 

[TammyTX]

Thank you. I would have never guessed that.

He looks like the photos on the web but he doesn't have quite the same coloring...maybe because he's all puffed up. He is very pretty.

To do list.....see if Kestrels eat chickens....!

 

[Buster]

I think they are also known as sparrow hawks. I read a post on here once saying that one hit the head of a full grown chicken so hard it took it off. I had one land on my car once with a mouse in it's talons.

 

[Emchick]

Yes, that is an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) also known as the Sparrow Hawk. They can't take off with standard sized chickens, but they will go after chicks and small bantams. It is related to the Merlin wich is smaller and more dull in coloring. This is why Merlins will be mistaken for female Kestrels.

Here I'll get you some more pics:

 

[Opa]

Without a doubt it's a kestrel. It's got to be one of the prettiest birds around. I love watching them.

 

[halo]

We have a lot of them around here. They are really neat birds. I have everything protected here from the large hawks that I have, so I dont know if they would bother my birds or not. They never have, but my birds are under cover.

 

[PortageGirl]

I think they'd have to be truly desperate to try for a chicken... a chick is more their size, but I'll bet he's watching for mice and chipmunks that are scavenging your chicken feed. They're not only small, they're very light. mice and grasshoppers is more their norm. I'm not sure how good they'd be at sparrows, I've always wondered about that name (sparrowhawk), a friend who is a bigtime birdwatcher said he thinks it's because they're so small like a sparrow is small (in comparison to other raptors), not because they eat sparrows. I'm not sure though.

 

[deenamr]

I have them at my house. We enjoy watching them. In the summer In the summer they catch the really big grasshoppers then sit on the powerlines to enjoy their snack.

 

[Fredster]

A kestrel dove into the back of my field yesterday while I was out there, and snatched a robin off the ground. It was one of the coolest things I've seen in a while.