Margaret: Love your photo's! Kestrel's are such pretty birds but I too get confused with the different descriptions of size. I've read they are the size of Mourning Doves but with larger heads; and I also read somewhere that they are the size of the American Robin! I've learned that there are different subspecies that differ in size etc. I copied and pasted this from the Wikipedia site:
Seventeen subspecies of the American Kestrel are recognized, generally based upon plumage, size, and vocalizations:[15]
F. s. sparverius, described by Linnaeus in 1758, is the nominate subspecies. It is found in most of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
F. s. paulus, described by Howe and King in 1902, is found in the Southeast United States, from Louisiana to Florida.
F. s. peninsularis, described by Mearns in 1892, is found in southern Baja California.
F. s. tropicalis, described by Griscom in 1930, is found from southern Mexico to northern Honduras.
F. s. nicaraguensis, described by Howell in 1965, is found in Honduras and Nicaragua.
F. s. sparveroides, described by Vigors in 1827, is found in Cuba and the Isle of Youth, and southern to central Bahamas.
F. s. dominicensis, described by Gmelin in 1788, is found in Hispaniola.
F. s. caribaearum, described by Gmelin in 1788, is found in Puerto Rico through the Lesser Antilles to Grenada.
F. s. brevipennis, described by Berlepsch in 1892, is found in the Netherlands Antilles.
F. s. isabellinus, described by Swainson in 1837, is found from Venezuela to northern Brazil.
F. s. ochraceus, described by Cory in 1915, is found in eastern Colombia and northwest Venezuela.
F. s. caucae, described by Chapman in 1915, is found in western Colombia.
F. s. aequatorialis, described by Mearns in 1892, is found in northern Ecuador.
F. s. peruvianus, described by Cory in 1915, is found in southwest Ecuador, Peru, and northern Chile.
F. s. fernandensis, described by Chapman in 1915, is found on the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile.
F. s. cinnamominu, described by Swainson in 1837, is found in Peru, Chile, and Argentina.
F. s. cearae, described by Cory in 1915, is found from northeast Brazil south to eastern Bolivia.
