The difference between kestrels and hawks

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Boy, I’m a lucky commuter – instead of cars, cars, cars—on my way from St. Matthews to Sumter I go past agricultural fields, cross the Congaree River, and have a drive through the Wateree flood plain. In Fort Motte, kestrels are often sitting on the power lines – they’re glad those lines aren’t underground. Kestrels are raptors – our smallest ones – and if you look at pictures of them they’re quite beautiful. With extremely sharp eyesight, they look at the ground for lizards, grasshoppers, and mice, and search the sky for small birds and flying insects. Hawks are raptors, too, but kestrels have longer wings and a sharp beak they use to cut the spinal cord of their prey. They’re cavity nesters and are, like many birds, in decline most probably due to habitat loss.