[Birdtalk] Time for a dumb question (or observation)

[John Morgan]

Has anyone else ever thought this: Why do American Kestrels seem to come in two sizes?

Most A. Kestrels I see seem to be quite small....slight and wirey. But on some occasions as with my recent sighting of the male who was heckling the Prairie Falcon near Gardner Village, some of them are down right large! OK, fluffed out feathers taken into account, this one I saw yesterday was as big a Kestrel as I'd ever seen--large enough that I was surprised it was an American Kestrel with colorations and markings of a male bird. Wow.

Anyway, just wondering if others have noticed a similar variance in size. If males are usually smaller in the Falcon family, this guy beat the odds. He didn't appear to be fluffing and even appeared large when in flight. Maybe its just too much junk food.
John
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