American Kestrel Gallery

American kestrel eating mouse at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
Not For the Squeamish
Rodents play a crucial role in the foodchain for many predators at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. The Townsend's vole is a food source for a variety of predators, including herons, egrets, hawks, owls, and coyotes. Kestrels are much smaller than most hawks and all eagles, and this female has caught something much smaller than a vole: a mouse. There are two species of mice at Ridgefield, the deer mouse and the Pacific jumping mouse, and I'm not sure which one this is.

Was. Which one this was.

American kestrel perched on a tree branch at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
Featherweight
Even though the weight of the kestrel bends the branch downward, what is remarkable is that a bird of this size can perch at the end of such a thin branch at all — a true testament to the lightweight structure many birds have evolved.

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Last modified: April 24, 2008