The Story
I photographed this American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) at Beraca Charco Indio, near San José del Guaviare, Guaviare, Colombia, in February 2021. It is the smallest and most common falcon in the Americas, found from North America through South America except the densest Amazon rainforest. It often hunts from a perch and sometimes hovers with rapid wingbeats. It eats grasshoppers and other insects, lizards, mice and small birds, and it nests in cavities in trees, cliffs and buildings. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/2000 sec, f/16, ISO 3200, +1.5 EV. Beraca Charco Indio is a 140-hectare agritourism farm in the Serranía de La Lindosa, about 6 kilometers from San José del Guaviare, with a private river pool called the Charco Indio.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) belongs to the family Falconidae (Falcons and Caracaras) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List