On Mon, 1 Apr 1996, John Henninger wrote:

> I was very surprised to see a female kestral at one of our back deck
> feeders this past Saturday. I didn't notice it eating anything. Hung
> around the neighborhood for most of the morning. This might qualify as
> hawk territory as there is a ring of Doug firs around a "meadow" of
> about a dozen houses and their yards. Also there are many small birds,
> such as nuthatches, in the area. Am I right that small hawks like
> kestrals and sharp-shined hawks prefer voles and mice over other birds?

John--

Sharpies definitely prefer small birds..kestrels are opportunists.
They eat insects when they're available, small rodents when the
bugs disappear, and birds when the snow covers the small rodents..

Sharpies are very quick and will take birds off your feeder..(well,
it's a bird feeder, right?)..I've seen occasional reports of kestrels
taking small birds, but for the most part they're *mousers*..

Tom