My garden is safe from those clever, crafty crows this year.

The kestrels returned late last month to make a home in one of the gnarled, old maple trees in front of our house. The pair mated furiously for a couple of days, then found the perfect hole in a portion of the tree’s dead wood to make a home.

Although they are a fraction of the size of those pesky, intelligent black birds, they are as feisty and aggressive as any critter with fur or feather. While crows are huge and noisy, they can only fly forward, while the small kestrel is great at maneuvers. The small hawks can fly circles around the crows, pecking their heads as they fly by.

They’ve also been known to dip down from the skies to whoosh by our golden retriever, or even me, when I dared get too close to that very old and tall tree with their nest almost at the top.

Sometimes called sparrow hawks because they are the smallest of the hawk family, kestrels don’t eat sparrows or any other small bird, for that matter. Some of their immediate neighbors this year is a pair of titmice who have taken over another hole in a dead branch a couple of dozen feet below the kestrel’s homestead. And chickadees, robins, sparrows and other small birds all co-exist nicely with these small hawks in nearby trees because they pose no threat. Kestrels enjoy a meal of tiny field mice and grasshoppers.

They are wonderful birds to have around.

Last year, they raised three chicks. The mom and dad took turns helping the babies leave their nest, then guided them into the tall grass of the field to catch lunch. If a young one had a tough time leaving the nest, or getting back, one of the parents helped it out. By fall, they all left.

Three returned this year. I don’t know whether one of them was last year’s fledgling, but two of them are definitely having another family.

The year the kestrels didn’t nest nearby, the crows had a feast in my garden. Not only did they dig up the corn I had just planted, but as I planted and replanted, some of the kernels would inevitably sprout. Those black birds enjoyed three-inch tall corn, too, pulling each seedling up and plucking off what was left of the kernel.

They moved on to pecking tomatoes, pumpkins and anything else that may have looked appetizing.

But not this year. The crows are nesting not too far from our garden or from the kestrels. But they cut a wide berth when they approach the kestrels’ old maple tree. They squawk and carry on as these much smaller birds dart and peck and attack.

Now, all I have to worry about eating my garden are the deer, the rabbits, a raccoon or two, perhaps a ground hog, along with the slugs, the flea beetles, the Japanese bean beetles, and an occasional grub or cut worm..

But then, every year is a challenge, but also, every year the garden produces something regardless of the wildlife that also considers it their own private dining room.

I’m willing to share. I ask only that they refrain from taste testing everything and eat the whole vegetable.