Watching one of these birds holding its position over a field with quick beating wings while it scans the ground, the appropriateness of "Windhover" as a name is apparent.
Its rapidly repeated call of Killy-Killy-Killy-Killy-Killy attracts an observer's attention to the poised form.
They are the tamest and most beneficial of our Falcons, nesting in orchards or roadside trees and feeding exclusively on grasshoppers, crickets and mice. I have never seen them catch birds altho feathers in nests show they are guilty occasionally.
They delight in teasing and I watched a pair swoop and strike playfully at two Blue Jays until the latter became so dizzy trying to follow and evade the frolicsome dives that they could scarcely stand on their feet. Flickers are favorite objects of these attentions and take part in the game with apparent pleasure. When a Sharpshin Hawk tries the same tactics, the Flickers sense instantly this villain's lethal intentions and are careful to keep a branch between them.
North America, east of the Rocky Mountain.