Resources & Research : Animal & Plant of the Month

Art Elser

Animal of the Month
The American Kestrel

It is not the fastest falcon. That's the peregrine falcon. It does not feed chiefly on birds that it catches on the wing. That's the prairie falcon. The American kestrel, however, is the smallest falcon, and, in my estimation, the most gorgeous.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife website describes the American kestrel as "… a beautiful, robin-sized falcon. This tiny raptor has the typical falcon body shape, a short neck, and a small head with a black and white pattern and dark, vertical, black stripes on the sides. It is a rust-colored falcon. The male is distinguished by having blue-gray wings and an unbarred tail, while the female sports a barred tail and lacks the blue-gray wings. The kestrel has a sharp, hooked bill and large, talon-tipped feet that are ideal for hunting. In flight, pointed wings and rapid wing beats help to identify this raptor."

This description, while accurate, lacks the pure excitement of the kestrel. The sight of a kestrel swooping to a perch on a bright sunny day, rust-colored back glowing like burnished bronze, slate-blue wings gliding to the branch, is breath-taking. A kestrel hovering over the prairie, graceful wings rapidly beating, then diving to catch a mouse or vole is exciting.

Kestrel pairs usually bond for life—they live from 2 to 5 years—and produce clutches of from three to five eggs. The female incubates the eggs for about 30 days, while the male hunts to feed the family. The fledglings leave the nest about 30 days after they hatch. Although kestrels do eat small rodents, their diet consists mainly of insects. In winter months, when insects are scarce, they eat sparrows, mice, and voles.

We have kestrel families at PCC. The good news is that one family hangs out at the kestrel box on the side of the Colorado Grange Museum . They perch on the power lines, trees near the buildings, peaks of buildings, and tipi poles. The beautiful female kestrel above was photographed in the parking lot. When the young have fledged, you'll hear their raucous food begging in the trees around the nature center.

The other location at PCC you will often see kestrels is in the riparian area near Grand Central Station. Look for them in the tops of trees, tips of bare branches, and the top vane of the windmill.

Look for kestrels on power lines or poles along country roads, looking into the grass for their next meal. And look for them hovering over the open prairie on windy days, using the wind to aid their hunt.

Plant of the Month

willow along Tollgate Creek, winter 2008 JPMoyer

Plant of the month, May 2008
Bluestem Willow
Salix irrorata

Look for:

•  A shrub up to 12 feet in height growing along steams

•  Dark straight stems covered with a bluish coating

•  Catkins, or flowers, that push out in early spring

•  Catkins that are hairy or smooth (depending on whether they are male or female) about ¾ inch in length

Ecology and Human Uses:

•  The catkins often are found before the leaves open, early in the spring

•  Very common on the eastern slope of Colorado , our best native pussy willow

•  Willows are dioecious, male and female flowers or catkins on different plants

•  The male flowers are without corolla or calyx but merely a bunch of stamens (see image)

•  Almost all willows take root readily from cuttings or where broken branches lie on the ground

•  Willows are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species (moths and butterfiles)

•  Native Americans relied on the willow as a staple treatment for a wide variety of ailments because it contains salicylic acid, the precursor to aspirin

•  Other uses include wood for brooms, cradle boards, dolls and toys, sweat lodges and basket weaving

•  These large native plants provide good slope stabilization and thus soil erosion control

•  The willow is mentioned in literature by Hans Christian Andersen ( Under the Willow Tree ) and more recently by JK Rowling in her Harry Potter series (the ancient tree on the school grounds of Hogwarts called the Whomping Willow)