When one thinks of spring migration, one usually thinks of birds traveling great distances. We at Audubon are always talking about stuff like that. But some birds don't move all that far, or at all. Among these is the American Kestrel, one of the coolest birds you're likely to see. Formerly called the Sparrow Hawk, this little tough guy is actually a falcon -- the smallest and most numerous in North America. It likes open areas of low vegetation where it can gain a high perch and hunt the smaller creatures it needs. It's a highly adaptable bird that thrives in human-modified areas such as parks and suburbs. As far as migration goes, the bird is a mix of resident and migrating. As a general rule, the more northern the bird is located, the more likely it is to migrate. Birds in the southern half of North American may not migrate at all. Nonetheless, its range takes it all the way from Alaska to Central America, with birds at either end of the range moving more than birds in the middle (photo by Robert Burton/USFWS)