The American Kestrel is the smallest member of the Falcon family, which also includes the Peregrine Falcon, the world’s fastest bird. Kestrels are much smaller, being scarcely larger than a Bluejay.  They are also the most colorful of our native hawks, especially the males, which have rusty red backs and tails, combined with blue wings. Both sexes have a black cap and a noticeable vertical line under the eye. Kestrels prefer to hunt over open ground for grasshoppers, crickets, and other insects, as well as mice, voles, and other small rodents. They are one of the few hawks that can hover, a skill that allows them to maintain a fixed position in the air while pinpointing the location of their prey in the tall grasses where they usually hunt. In the Birmingham area, Kestrels appear to have a strong preference for the old field habitat around power plants and other industrial sites.  Since they are cavity nesters, they readily find nest sites in drain pipes and other openings in the factory buildings. They also nest successfully in the heart of downtown Birmingham. One nest site was in a drain pipe in the façade of the building on 20^th Street just one block from Linn Park, in the heart of the business district.