It was cold. The wind was biting. I could no longer feel my toes or my nose and the salt air was stinging my eyes. My coffee in my thermos was long gone but as I stood on the observation deck with my best friend, Renee, I thought to myself that the day could not be more perfect.

Overhead, in whichever direction we looked, birds of prey of various species were soaring overhead toward their destinations in a journey as old as time.

“Are you watching that kestrel?” I asked her.

“That’s not a kestrel … it’s a ’tail!” She meant she was watching a red-tailed hawk.

“Yeah, it IS a kestrel so you must not be watching what I am watching!”

I had had my fill of red-tails the day before, so I kept my binoculars on the kestrel.

Kestrels are swift fliers with some amazing flying abilities and adaptations. They are pros at hovering. Facing into a headwind, kestrels can flap their wings vigorously and maneuver their tail to stay in one spot, while searching the ground for prey.

Though it is a small bird, the kestrel has the strength, agility and stamina to maintain this flight.

I watched this kestrel as it made its way across the marsh, and others had to be watching as well because a collective gasp came from the group.

Renee snapped her head up and in my direction, asking what happened. I couldn’t help the cheesy grin as I told her she missed it!

As the kestrel came across, it dove and barrel-rolled, righting itself with a large dragonfly in its talons. Usually, prey is watched from a higher vantage point and then taken from the ground, but as this kestrel showed us, prey is also taken in flight.

One of the most fascinating thing about kestrels (and there are many) is that they are fast fliers with a cruising speed of about 40 mph, and top speed of close to 100 mph. Chasing prey, they will fold in their wings and go into a “stoop” or dive. All that air rushing into the nostrils would make breathing difficult, so all falcons have a baffle just inside each nostril that causes the air flow to rush up and over their faces, reducing the pressure of the air entering the lungs.

Kestrels feed mainly on insects, mice, voles, lizards, and snakes, making this bird a very good friend to farmers.

Like the barn owl and many other birds of prey, they help keep small animals that might damage crops under control. From a perch, kestrels watch for insects, small mammals and reptiles, which they overtake and capture.

Their small size - equal to that of a robin - makes it hard to think of them as fierce hunters. Using their notched beaks, kestrels quickly subdue their prey by severing the spinal cord at the neck. Cool, huh?

Kestrels are the smallest falcons in North America, weighing just 3-6 ounces with a wingspan of between 20-24 inches and body lengths between 8-12 inches. They are one of only three raptor species in North America where males and females look very different from each other. This difference is called sexual dimorphism, meaning there are plumage differences between the sexes. Males have blue-hued wings and one black bar on their rufous-colored tail feathers; females have rufous-colored wings with black stripes and barring on their rufous-colored tail feathers with a shorter black band near the top of their tails.

There are some traits that the male and female share: they both have dark “eyes” called ocelli on the back of their heads. These spots are “false eyes,” and fool predators by giving the illusion that kestrels are watching them. The kestrel’s ocelli deter attacks from behind but are no guarantee that kestrels won’t become prey for larger raptors.

Male and female kestrels have two black “double mustaches,” called malar stripes resembling a mustache and sideburns on either side of their heads. These stripes absorb the sunlight so they can see where they are going. Much like the black “grease paint” under a football player’s eyes.

American kestrels are found throughout most of North America, Central America and South America.

In their northern range, they are found in Canada and Alaska during the summer breeding season. The male and female spend a lot of time together during courtship and breeding and while raising young. During courtship, a male kestrel brings the female gifts, but she isn’t interested in flowers or chocolates. She finds headless mice or dead lizards much more appealing! Females usually lay four to six eggs that are white with brown spots.

Both the male and female incubate the eggs. After about 29 days, the young kestrels hatch. While they are growing, kestrel chicks eat about two times more than the adults do - consuming 4-5 prey items a day.

About 28-31 days after hatching, the chicks are grown and ready to take their first flight. The young accompany the adults on hunting expeditions in order to learn how to hunt before they are completely on their own.

At the tender age of 1 year, they are ready to start raising their own young.

All birds of prey have amazing eyesight. Kestrels, like some other birds, can see ultraviolet light, which is invisible to my human eyes.

Just like Hansel and Gretel leaving a breadcrumb trail, rodents leave urine trails as they traverse over the landscape. Kestrel easily see these urine trails, which reflect ultraviolet light.

It is believed that kestrels set up a territory in an area with lots of urine trails because this means there is a lot of active prey.

Jeannie Carl is a naturalist at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center in Summit Hill. The center rehabilitates injured animals and educates the public on a variety of wildlife found in the area. For information on the Carbon County Environmental Center, visit www.carboneec.org.