Definition of "kestrel"

kestrel

/ˈkɛstɹəl/

noun
plural kestrels
1. Any of various small falcons of the genus Falco that hover while hunting.
  Quotations
  When she was musing she was a kestrel, which hangs in the air by an invisible motion of its wings.
  1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, book 3 chapter 6
  Up on the downs the red-eyed kestrels hover,Eyeing the grass.The field mouse flits like a shadow into coverAs their shadows pass.
  1917, John Masefield, Up on the Downs
2. The common kestrel, Falco tinnunculus.