American Kestrel

American Kestrels are uncommon residents in western Washington. We do not see them very often. These little falcons are more common in eastern Washington and elsewhere across much of North and South America. We photographed this male kestrel on 27 October 2020 at the Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge. Our understanding of what falcons are has changed greatly since the advent of molecular systematics. We used to think that falcons were closely related to hawks and vultures. Now we think they share ancestors with parrots and songbirds. The evidence is robust enough to move falcons away from the hawks and next to woodpeckers and vireos in most current North American bird lists.