Kestrels Adapt To City Life

A young kestrel was looking for a safe place to park in downtown Spokane near Post and Riverside last week. A pair of kestrels, the smallest and most common of the North American falcon family, have been seen regularly downtown this spring, and apparently produced young from an urban nest. This youngster, however, glided to the street but didn’t have the strength to gain serious altitude. Construction workers carried it to higher ground. It was last seen in a tree near the Lincoln Building.

The kestrel commonly is known as a “sparrow hawks,” a misnomer, because it’s a falcon, not a hawk. While sparrows are only a small part of the species’ food base, the little gray birds are likely important to the diet of kestrels in downtown Spokane. , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo