Close encounters of the kestrel kind

For years a photo of a male American Kestrel has graced the home screen on my cell phone and served as my profile picture on Facebook. The photo was a fluke: I was out birding along a country road near The Wilds and I saw a flash of color in the grass on the other side of the road. I pulled over,  carefully grabbed the camera with the telephoto lens, and I crept slowly across the road to see two kestrels in the grass looking stunned. I suspected that they'd been struck by a car and I wondered whether they'd survive, but I managed to snap just a few shots before they flew off.

Something about this bird spoke to me. I love his vivid colors, stripes, and splotches, but mostly I love the look in his eye, observant and wary but also wise, as if he's about to open his mouth and share some insight about all he's seen. I don't see kestrels in this area often and in fact my prior encounters had mostly been with captive birds, like the ones I visited at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey near my parents' house in Florida. In December I saw a kestrel perched high above a wetland in South Carolina, and even from a distance its bold colors caught my eye and made me wish I could get closer.

Then yesterday I got much closer to a kestrel, although I didn't know what it was at first. I was pulling into my driveway after the long drive back from a weekend with the grandkids when I saw a bird fly up to a tree beside the driveway. I thought at first it was a mourning dove, common as dirt but nice to have around, but when it flew down right over my windshield before disappearing into the woods I saw its size and vivid coloration--the first time I've ever seen a kestrel near our property.

Can this bird be looking for a home or is it just passing through? I had to look it up: kestrels like to hunt on open ground (like our lower meadow) with a few tall trees nearby (check) offering high perches for visibility plus lots of hollows for nesting (check again). They eat insects, small rodents, small songbirds, and the occasional frog, lizard, or snake, all of which we have in abundance. 

 Can they coexist with the red-tailed hawks that nest in the area? Will they attack small birds visiting our feeders? I don't know, but something about seeing this kestrel so close to home made me feel hopeful, reminding me that spring is coming with all its promise of change and growth. The kestrel in the photo always looks like it knows more than I can ever imagine, but maybe there's hope that some of that wisdom will eventually be revealed.