American Kestrel
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40 free American Kestrel trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The American kestrel is the smallest falcon in North America and one of the most colorful birds of prey anywhere. It weighs only a few ounces, yet it hunts everything from insects to rodents and lives from the Arctic fringe to the far end of South America. This quiz collects the fun facts people most often look for: how the kestrel finds and catches its prey, how to tell males from females, where pairs raise their chicks, the odd habits of courting adults and nestlings, the bird's older folk names, and what scientists know about its long decline. It suits backyard birders, students working on a raptor project, falconry beginners and anyone who has spotted a small falcon by the roadside and wondered what it was. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01DNA studies place falcons like the American kestrel closer to which birds than to hawks?
Parrots
Parrots and songbirds are the nearest living relatives of falcons. The hooked look that falcons share with eagles and other birds of prey says little about their family tree.
Q 02Which light, invisible to humans, may let an American kestrel follow the urine trails that voles leave in grass?
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light was the cue in a 1995 study, which found Eurasian kestrels drawn to vole scent marks. A 2013 study cast doubt, finding vole urine gives raptors no reliable visual signal.
Q 03Which tiny stinging insects join hawks, owls and rat snakes on the list of animals that prey on American kestrels?
Fire ants
Fire ants are on the list of kestrel predators, alongside crows and corn snakes. Being one of the smallest birds of prey means often being the hunted one.
Q 04One raptor conservation group says a small American kestrel weighs about the same as 34 of which US coins?
Pennies
Pennies make the point: 34 of them weigh about three ounces, the same as a small kestrel. Even the heaviest birds reach only about six ounces.
Q 05American kestrels have been caught on live TV hunting moths drawn to the bright lights of which venues?
Sports stadiums
Sports stadiums give kestrels a night shift: the birds perch on light standards or foul poles and snatch insects out of the beams during evening games.
Q 06Unlike hawks, which kill with their feet, a falcon such as the American kestrel finishes off prey using what?
Its beak
Its beak has a tooth-like point on the side called a tomial tooth, the killing tool of the whole falcon family. Hawks and eagles rely on their talons instead.
Q 07The two black spots on the back of an American kestrel's head are thought to ward off attackers by mimicking what?
A pair of eyes
A pair of eyes seems to stare from the back of the head, so a predator may think it has been noticed. The spots are called ocelli, and their purpose is still debated.
Q 08A courting male American kestrel brings his mate gifts of dead mice that are missing which part?
Their heads
Their heads are gone: headless mice and dead lizards are a male's courtship gifts. Pairs that form this way often stay together for years and return to the same nest site.
Q 09Before a 1983 checklist change, which misleading name did most North Americans use for the American kestrel?
Sparrow hawk
Sparrow hawk was the bird's usual name until 1983, borrowed from an unrelated Old World hunter. The kestrel is a falcon, so ornithologists renamed it.
Q 10Where do American kestrel chicks squirt their droppings to keep themselves clean inside a cramped tree cavity?
Onto the nest walls
Onto the nest walls it goes: each chick backs up and squirts, so the mess dries on the sides and stays off the brood. The cavity still ends up a smelly place.
Q 11American kestrels cannot dig their own nest holes, so pairs often move into old cavities made by which birds?
Woodpeckers
Woodpeckers do the carpentry, and kestrels take over the finished holes. The male scouts possible cavities and shows them to the female, who makes the final choice.
Q 12What color are the wings of an adult male American kestrel, the easiest way to tell him from a rusty-winged female?
Slate blue
Slate blue wings mark the male, while the female's wings are rusty with black barring. Both sexes wear two black slashes down each side of the face.
Q 13North America's smallest falcon, the American kestrel, is about the size of which common backyard bird?
Mourning dove
Q 21Which naturalist gave the American kestrel its scientific name, Falco sparverius, in 1758?
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus named the bird from a description and painting made in the Carolinas, and gave its home simply as America. Later scientists narrowed that to South Carolina.
Q 22Which place marks the far southern end of the American kestrel's range, which begins in Alaska?
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is the southern tip of the kestrel's range, which at the other end reaches above the Arctic Circle. No other falcon in the Americas is as common.
Q 23American kestrels have been found living above 4,500 metres, or about 14,800 feet, in which mountain range?
The Andes
Mourning dove is the comparison birders use, though kestrels vary a lot: a large northern female can be about twice the size of a small southern male.
Q 14What does a hunting American kestrel face into so that it can hover in one spot above an open field?
The wind
The wind holds the bird up as it flaps in place, scanning the ground below. Most hunting is still done from a perch, which costs far less energy.
Q 15Which insect, a summer staple of the American kestrel's diet, gives the bird one of its folk names?
Grasshopper
Grasshopper hawk is an old country name for the kestrel. Insects make up much of the warm-weather menu, with rodents, lizards and small birds filling in.
Q 16The American kestrel's old nickname "killy hawk" comes from which feature of the bird?
Its shrill call
Its shrill call, a rapid killy-killy-killy, is given when the bird is excited or upset. Females are larger than males and tend to sound lower-pitched.
Q 17Which North American raptor do falconers rate as swifter and more muscular than the similar-sized American kestrel?
Merlin
Merlin is the kestrel's athletic cousin, built for long aerial chases. The kestrel's leaner frame suits ambush hunting and gets by on less food each day.
Q 18When hunting is good, what does an American kestrel do with a surplus kill?
Hides it for later
It hides it for later: surplus kills go into grass clumps, fence posts, tree roots and cavities, saved for lean times and kept away from thieves.
Q 19Which habit, often shown just after landing, helps birders pick out a perched American kestrel from far away?
Pumping its tail
Pumping its tail up and down is the kestrel's giveaway on a distant post. The bird also bobs its head just before launching at prey on the ground.
Q 20Where along a country road are drivers most likely to spot an American kestrel scanning the ground for prey?
On power lines
On power lines, where the birds sit and scan for dinner, kestrels are easiest to spot. Fence posts and telephone poles are also favorite lookouts.
The Andes mark the high point for a bird that is equally at home in deserts, city suburbs and north of the Arctic Circle.
Q 24Despite decades of decline across North America, which IUCN Red List category does the American kestrel hold?
Least Concern
Least Concern reflects a global population in the millions across two continents. Regional losses are much sharper: the southeastern subspecies has fallen 82% since 1940.
Q 25Which raptor conservation group launched the American Kestrel Partnership in 2012 to study why the bird is declining?
The Peregrine Fund
The Peregrine Fund recruited more than 2,400 birders, scientists, teachers and students. Together they logged over 60,000 observations of kestrel breeding activity.
Q 26Which 1918 US law makes it illegal to keep an American kestrel without a permit, such as a falconry license?
Migratory Bird Treaty Act
Migratory Bird Treaty Act rules protect native raptors, and permits are likewise required in Canada and Mexico. Licensed falconers often start out with a kestrel.
Q 27Which bird, brought to North America by people, now competes with American kestrels for scarce nesting cavities?
European starling
European starling numbers add pressure on a limited supply of nest holes. Researchers suspect several causes behind the kestrel's decline, including habitat loss and pesticides.
Q 28Which mid-sized North American raptor is notorious for boldly attacking American kestrels flown by falconers?
Cooper's hawk
Cooper's hawk is strong enough to carry a kestrel away. Falconers report often saving their bird by rushing in and scaring the bigger raptor into letting go.
Q 29What human activity in the 1700s and 1800s likely boosted American kestrel numbers?
Forest clearing
Forest clearing for farms opened up the kind of hunting ground kestrels like best. Today the felling of standing dead trees hurts them by removing nest sites.
Q 30The southeastern American kestrel has declined sharply as farms replaced the sandhill forests of which tree?
Longleaf pine
Longleaf pine stands were turned into farm fields, taking away the old trunks whose cavities these kestrels nest in. The subspecies has fallen 82% since 1940.