On the thread of Am. kestrels in South Africa:

I would suspect European bird breeders, rather than capture in
America. While traveling in the U.K a couple of years ago I met with
a few falconery breeders who regularly exported, especially to the
middle eastern countries. One fellow bred several American birds,
including ferruginous hawks, harris hawks, and Coopers hawks, and he
had one bald eagle which he claimed was bred in captivity. I don't
recall any American kestrels, but he had several European kestrels.
As kestrels are popular in falconery I could see them being exported,
although I wonder why choose the American variety when the European
kind lives closer and is common. I also saw a few people keep such
birds in cages. One fancier had an eagle owl and a snowy owl in a
large, backyard "aviary". A little beyond my understanding, but it
was all legal as long as the birds were captive bred.
Jerry Broadus
P.O. Box 249
Puyallup, WA. 98371