Whatbird.com

Saw this bird near Morrison, Colorado this morning.  Stopped and took a few shots.  I'm fairly sure it's an American Kestrel, but the kestrel is sexually dimorphic, and I'm not certain if it's male or female.  I'm thinking  female because of the multiple black bands across the tail?

http://hawkmountain.org/media/kestrel.pdf

"American Kestrels have reddish-brown backs and tails, blue-gray crowns with
variable amounts of rufous, and two dark vertical stripes on the sides of their heads.
They have two dark “eyespots” on the back of their head. Male kestrels have bluegray
wings. Females have reddish-brown wings with black barring. Males have
rufous tails with one wide, black sub-terminal band and a white tip. Females have
rufous tails and many black bars. The light-colored underparts of females typically
are heavily streaked with brown; those of males have variable amounts of dark
spotting or streaking. Females are about 10-15% larger than males."

 

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This is a female. Note the blurry rufous chest barring vs. definite black chest spots.

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Total birds seen: 293
Latest lifers:
Common Ground-Dove, Rufous Hummingbird, Western Meadowlark, Clapper Rail, Pelagic Cormorant, Wandering Tattler
Favorite lifers:
Black-billed Cuckoo, Reddish Egret, Wood Stork

Here's a shot of another American Kestrel I shot in the same area last year.  Same deal here, right?  She's got soft brown spots on chest, which means female?  (I think that the male have darker, more distinct chest marks?)

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You got it!

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Total birds seen: 293
Latest lifers:
Common Ground-Dove, Rufous Hummingbird, Western Meadowlark, Clapper Rail, Pelagic Cormorant, Wandering Tattler
Favorite lifers:
Black-billed Cuckoo, Reddish Egret, Wood Stork

The more obvious mark is that the male has blue wings rather than the black striped rufous ones on these birds.  Also, along with the difference in the markings on the underside, the back of the male lacks the stripes, and instead has more sparse black chevrons near the rear of his back.

Many thanks for your feedback.  This helps a lot.  I guess I've never seen a male then.  I'll keep looking. :)

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males tend to be more colorful, and the female is duller yet a bit bigger.

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"When violet eyes get brighter, and heavy wings grow lighter, I'll taste the sky and feel alive again."
-Owl City, Vanilla Twilight

PoorMatty:

The more obvious mark is that the male has blue wings rather than the black striped rufous ones on these birds.  Also, along with the difference in the markings on the underside, the back of the male lacks the stripes, and instead has more sparse black chevrons near the rear of his back.

The one I shot must be a male then.

 

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Jim & Sue

Life List: 190

Last lifer: White-eyed Vireo

here is a close-up of a female that i caught several months ago, and brought to a rehab center.  as matty said, you can see the wings are not blue and this is prob the most obvious field mark for separating males from females.

OK. Yeah...I see how different the wings are now.  This helps. Thanks.

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That is cool that you're actually holding one.  That beak looks pretty wicked.  I think I'd be scared to hold one.

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Harpo57:

PoorMatty:

The more obvious mark is that the male has blue wings rather than the black striped rufous ones on these birds.  Also, along with the difference in the markings on the underside, the back of the male lacks the stripes, and instead has more sparse black chevrons near the rear of his back.

The one I shot must be a male then.

 

 

You're correct, that's a very beautiful little male.

dukw_butter:

That is cool that you're actually holding one.  That beak looks pretty wicked.  I think I'd be scared to hold one.

she never even tried to bite me.  i fed her crickets and she ate them right out of my hand.  the only reason i had her for so long, was because i got her on a saturday, and the rehab center was not open until Mon morning.

The other day we spotted 10 Kestrels or Sparrow hawk as my husband calls them, on a 35 mile stretch.

The light was terribly poor, but I tried to capture them anyway and had to adjust the exposure later.

 

2nd picture