338. American Kestrel

Female American Kestrel feeding on a Deer Mouse.

The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) is a relatively new addition to the bird species list for Leaning Oaks with our first records occurring in 2024.  This is not surprising since the local trend for this species is a steady increase and resident birds are all around us.  What is surprising is that this increase is bucking the widespread trend of a steady declines elsewhere in Canada.  The decline in southern British Columbia since the 1970’s is over 75% (State of Canada’s Birds 2024).  Many  local birders believe the increase here is due to the arrival of a new prey source for the species, the now common and active nearly year round Common Wall Lizard. However, eBird trend maps show increasing numbers of American Kestrels just south of us as along the west side of Puget Sound, south to the Columbia River that forms the Washington-Oregon border. Those areas do not have Common Wall Lizards (yet).  It is possible that these areas are benefiting from the increased Kestrel production on the east side of Vancouver Island or there is another explanation entirely for the regional increase such as benefits of warmer, drier summers.