WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Falco sparverius | American Kestrel 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
American kestrels breed from western and central Alaska and southern
Yukon to northern Ontario, southern Quebec, and southern Newfoundland
south to Mexico.  They winter from south-central Alaska, southern
British Columbia, and northern United States south throughout the
breeding range to Panama [1,2,13,15,25].  Specific distributions of the
four North American subspecies are listed below:

Falco sparverius sparverius- Breeds from east-central Alaska and the
Northwest Territories east to Nova Scotia and south to northern Mexico,
southern Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, northern Alabama, and northern
Georgia.  This subspecies winters from southern British Columbia to
southern Ontario and New York, south to Nevada, the Gulf Coast of the
United States, Florida (to Key West), and the Bahama Islands; through
Mexico and Central America to eastern Panama [1].

Falco sparverius guadalupensis is a resident subspecies on Guadalupe
Island and in Baja California [1].

Southeastern American kestrels- This subspecies has now been extirpated
over most of its former range [34].  The current range of southeastern
American kestrels was not described in the literature.  Former breeding
range extended from Louisiana (except the coastal area), Mississippi,
central Alabama, and southern Georgia to southern Florida.  Former
winter range extended from their breeding range south to the Gulf coast
of Louisiana and to Key West, Florida [1].

Falco sparverius peninsularis- Breeds in southern Baja California from
Santana south to Cape San Lucas and in the lowlands of Sonora and
Sinaloa.  Winters south to Mazatlan, Sinaloa [1].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES10 White-red-jack pine
FRES11 Spruce-fir
FRES12 Longleaf-slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly-shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak-pine
FRES15 Oak-hickory
FRES16 Oak-gum-cypress
FRES17 Elm-ash-cottonwood
FRES18 Maple-beech-birch
FRES19 Aspen-birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES24 Hemlock-Sitka spruce
FRES25 Larch
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES27 Redwood
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES31 Shinnery
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
FRES40 Desert grasslands
FRES41 Wet grasslands
FRES42 Annual grasslands
FRES44 Alpine


STATES : 


    
AL
    
AK
	
AZ
    
AR
    
CA
    
CO
    
CT
    
DE
    
FL
    
GA


    
HI
    
ID
    
IL
    
IN
    
IA
    
KS
    
KY
    
LA
    
ME
    
MD


    
MA
    
MI
    
MN
    
MS
    
MO
    
MT
    
NE
    
NV
    
NH
    
NJ


    
NM
    
NY
    
NC
    
ND
    
OH
    
OK
    
OR
    
PA
    
RI
    
SC


    
SD
    
TN
    
TX
    
UT
    
VT
    
VA
    
WA
    
WV
    
WI
    
WY


    
DC
    
PR
    
VI
    

    

    

    

    

    

    







    
AB
    
BC
    
MB
    
NB
    
NF
    
NT
    
NS
    
ON
    
PE
    
PQ


    
SK
    
YK
    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    







    
MEXICO
    




BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   American kestrels probably occur in most Kuchler Plant Associations


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   American kestrels probably occur in most SAF Cover Types


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
American kestrels occupy nearly all open shrubland, grassland and forest
vegetation types [29,40,54].  In Montana, American kestrels prefer
cottonwood (Populus spp.) forests over sagebrush (Artemisia spp.),
shrubland, and pine (Pinus spp.)-juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodland [40].
In California, they prefer large tree stages of succession.  For
breeding in blue oak (Quercus douglasii) savannah and gray pine (Pinus
sabiniana)-oak (Quercus spp.) types, they prefer 40 to 70 percent crown
closure[54].

The sandhills habitats apparently provide the most suitable habitat for
southeastern American kestrels in Florida [34].  In north-central
Florida, southeastern American kestrels nest in longleaf pine (Pinus
palustris) flatwoods, old-growth slash pine (Pinus elliottii) and
longleaf pine-turkey oak (Quercus laevis) sandhills communities [26,50].
During a 1981 through 1982 nesting survey, southeastern American kestrel
densities were higher in former and existing areas of the longleaf
pine-turkey oak sandhills association (0.41 pairs/sq km) than in areas of
former and existing hardwood hammocks (0.14 pairs/sq km) [58].
Additionally, the sandhill communities, particularly the pine-oak
woodland habitats, provide quality foraging sites for this subspecies
[59].



REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Falco sparverius | American Kestrel