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What are kestrels?
There are 14 species of small Falcos that are grouped as kestrels. They are found on all the continents except Antartica although there is only one species found in the America's and one in Australia. All remaining 12 species are found in Africa and Europe (2 species).
This group of small falcons differs from the other falcons in that they are typically small (up to about 350 grams), most have a rufous-brown plumage (three have a grey plumage), share similar morphological features such as shorter wings, longer tails and shorter toes and several have plumage that is sexually dimorphic.
Most species spend some of their time hunting by hovering and are generalist hunters, feeding on invertebrates, birds, lizards and mammals. Some species have adapted well to man and nest in man-made structures (buildings and churches) or nest boxes. However, other kestrel species such as some of the island species have suffered due to large scale habitat destruction.
One kestrel species, the Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) is colonial and there is very interesting parallel evolution of similar traits in the Amur Falcon (Falco amurensis) and Redfooted Falcon (Falco vespertinus). While genetic material seems to indicate that these two small Falcos are closer to the hobbies, it is possible that they are closer to the kestrels and should be classified as kestrels as well. Kestrels, like the other falcons, don't build their own nests but normally nest on cliffs, old stick nests of other birds such as crows or cavities in trees. They lay two to eight eggs, depending on the species and latitude. The Common (Falco tinnunculus), American (Falco sparverius), Mauritius (Falco punctatus) and Lesser (Falco naumanni) Kestrels are well studied but there is little information on the biology of the other kestrel species.

Why a kestrel web site?
The aim of this web site is to be the definitive resource for information on all kestrel species. However, I only work on the Rock Kestrel (Falco rupicolus) in South Africa, and co-ordinate the Migrating Kestrel Project, which involves counting Lesser Kestrels (Falco naumanni), Amur Falcons (Falco amurensis) and Redfooted Falcons (Falco vespertinus) in their wintering ground. Thus, much of this site is about those species and my work and study areas regarding those two projects. It would be my ideal if this site was not just about my work and news so if you would like to have your kestrel information placed on this site, please email me (see Contact).

Make your migrating kestrel sighting count by adding it to the Natural World map, the official sightings database of the Migrating Kestrel Project.
Add your sightings
of Lesser Kestrels, Amur Falcons and Redfooted Falcon.

Book cover - Kestrels for Company by Gordon Riddle

Gordon Riddle, well known kestrel researcher and author of bestseller "Seasons with the Kestrel" has written a new book called "Kestrels for Company.

this book provides an extensive picture of this delightful falcon, including its lifestyle and the factors that affect its breeding success and survival. This is based upon almost 40 years monitoring of the kestrel in south-west Scotland and further afield by the author and colleagues, giving a flavour of the integrated approach to monitoring and conservation.

As well as the wealth of factual data, there are entertaining anecdotes and stories both from the author’s experiences and from the wider media coverage of this raptor over the years. The reader is taken to exotic locations such as the Seychelles, Mauritius and the Cape Verde Islands to see the endemic island kestrels which have always held a great fascination for the author.

The book is available in April 2011 so download the flyer with order form for the book here.

Many of the counts for the 2010/11 season have come in. Thanks to those who have sent in their numbers. For those who still have their counts, please send them in as soon as possible.

The numbers available for the National Kestrel Count Day (24 January 2011) are:
Lesser Kestrels: 59,400 (19 roosts)
Amur Falcons: 74,041 (21 roosts)
Redfooted Falcons: 2,496 (4 roosts)

This number is still much lower compared to the last two seasons (approximately 172,000 in each season) but the number of roosts counted so far are much lower (29 roosts compared to 38 roosts counted last year). The average roost size is about the same as last season (4,600 birds per roost compared to 4,500 last year).

Download the latest count totals for the 2010/11 season in the MKP_counts_2010.xls spreadsheet.

It is well know that in western parts of South Africa, Fiscal Shrikes display white eye stripes. This has entrigued birders and there have been many discussions whether these birds are separate race or not. While not as prominent, some Rock Kestrels in the Western Cape Province of South Africa also have white eye stripes. Currently is not known if this is restricted to certain geographic regions, but it is interesting to note, and for birders to look out for so more information can be collected.

To see another kestrel with a white eye stripe, look at the following picture in the Rock Kestrel gallery. This picture was also taken along the west coast of South Africa and the white eye stripe is clearly visible.

Female Amur Falcon photogrphed in August in South Africa

In support of the earlier observations of the kestrels leaving South Africa later this year, Dr Andrew Jenkins photographed this female Amur Falcon on 12 August 2010 near Langebaan in South Africa. This is an interesting observation at it is one of the first documented records of Amur Falcon overwintering in South Africa. This is individual is also out of range of the normal distribution of these birds in South Africa. This raises the question if it's navigation was at fault and it flew off west, only to hit the west coast of Africa, with no further journey to do, and hence get stuck here over winter?

Dr Jenkins spent time observing this bird which was hunting from the telephone wire next to the road. There were numerous invertebrates on the ground below, and it would fly down and then move around on the ground picking up invertebrates. This is typical behaviour of the birds when they arrive in South Africa, when they spend a lot of the time on the ground eating energy rich harvester termites. This bird could be foraging on the same, as these are eaten extensively by Rock Kestrels during winter in South Africa. This bird was also in heavy moult, which is unusual as they normally finish their moult during the summer in South Africa.

Check the Amur Falcon Gallery for a larger version of the picture with better detail of the bird.

Bernd Meyburg and his team has presented the first ever satellite tracking data for Amur Falcons at two conferences, one in the East (Asian Raptor Research and Conservation Network conference, Mongolia) and one in South Africa (Birds of Prey Programme Conference, Kimberley).

The information gathered on 7 tracked Amur Falcons most probably represents the most exciting satellite tracking data from raptors since the first long distance raptor migrants were tracked. The Amur Falcon has one of the longest raptor migrations, but is also unique because it supposedly flies a long distance over the sea. It was believed that they flew mostly over land during their return journey, but data from Bernd has shown that they fly a distance 2,500 to 3,100km over the sea and do this by flying non-stop for between 2 and 3 days.

Other interesting information presented include that there is quite a lot of movement between roosts in their wintering area, they have stop over points on their migration route back to the breeding grounds, and fly south of the Himalayas in northern India. They are also capable of covering huge amounts of distance in a few days and were able to travel up much of Africa in only a few days.

They have now arrived in their breeding grounds and hopefully Prof Meyburg will be able to track their return route back to South Africa at the end of the year. One wonders if they will return to the same roost?

Thomas Rabeil of the Sahara Conservation Fund and Antelopes of the Sahara and Sahel project observed and photographed a Greater Kestrel Falco rupicoloides fieldi at Termit in SE Niger in February 2010. This record is 2,000 km out of range and a first for West Africa.

Reports have come in from Ronelle Visagie that the Lesser Kestrels in the Karoo seem to be leaving later this season than in the past. Ronelle Visagie is a volunteer of the Migrating Kestrel Project that monitors the De Aar and Philipstown roosts in the Karoo. These roosts are some of the largest Lesser Kestrel roosts in the country.

Normally all the birds have left the area by the end of March, but this season small groups of Lesser Kestrels were still seen along the roads in the De Aar - Kimberley area well into the middle of April.

Arrival and departure dates are important parameters to monitor in migrating bird populutions, because climate change models have predicted that birds will be leaving their breeding or wintering grounds earlier or later, depending on how the climate has changed in that region.

The numbers so far available for the National Kestrel Count Day (23 January 2010) are:
Lesser Kestrels: 55,783 (22 roosts)
Amur Falcons: 114,320 (27 roosts)
Redfooted Falcons: 1713 (4 roosts)

Compared to last season, almost the same number of birds were counted (172,029 were counted in 2008/9). However, the roosts seem to be an average larger this year, with 4,500 kestrels counted per roost in 2009/10 instead of 2,700 in 2008/9.

Download the latest count totals for the 2009/10 season in the MKP_counts_2009.xls spreadsheet.

Here are the results of the first counts for the 2009/10 season. It has been raining a lot in the northern part of the country, which has affected the counting. Some volunteers had to postpone the count by a few days while others suggest that their number are under estimates because of the poor conditions.

Results have come in from Brandfort, Dordrecht, Escourt, Himeville, Kokstad, Kraankuil, Lydenburg, Matatiele, Noupoort, Nyl Floodplain, Sabie, Ventersdorp, Viljoenskroon and Wellington. If you have counted and not sent the numbers in yet, please do so as soon as you can.

If you have been affected by the rain and haven't managed to count yet, please try to complete a count by this weekend, 30 January 2010.

The numbers so far available for the National Kestrel Count Day (23 January 2010) are:
Lesser Kestrels: 4,805 (5 roosts)
Amur Falcons: 45,705 (13 roosts)
Redfooted Falcons: 0 (0 roosts)

Download the latest count totals for the 2009/10 season in the MKP_counts_2009.xls spreadsheet.

I received the following email from Kobus van der Berg about their count at the Himeville roost.

Our group of volunteers, mainly Sani Wildlife (branch of WESSA), Pohlela Biosphere and local birdwatchers, counted about 8,600 birds at the Himeville roost on 23 Jan 2010.

This year's count was more difficult, with our rainy season being truly upon us; luckily though it did not rain during our count. Just to give you an idea, between about 20h00 on Sun 24th and 08h00 on Mon 25th, I emptied 92mm from my rain gauge.

Observing the roost over time recently, several of us noticed that when we have wet cloudy mornings, the birds depart to forage very late, even as late as 07h50 or later, when usually they depart in a spectacle by about 05h15 or so (when it is already very light on a clear day).

What we noticed, especially if the weather clears somewhat in the course of the day, is that they then tend to stay out very late; possibly trying to make the most of the better weather.

This results in a much smaller circling gathering of birds after sunset (only about 1,200 from about 18h45) at the roost, but then streaming hordes (counted at about 600 per min from about 19h35) diving straight into the trees without even circling; even when there is barely any light left (up until about 19h50). The influx also does not taper off gradually, but peeters out rapidly; more like someone closing a huge tap.

We were fortunate to have had a bit of moon creating somewhat of a white cloud (StratoCu) backdrop against which one could distinguish inbound birds after dark. Light levels were obviously way too low to make any distinguishing ID of various species/subs in the group.

The first reports are coming in from volunteers across the country that counting kestrels in the National Kestrel Counting Day held on 23 January 2010. January is considered to be the time when most birds are in southern Africa and at their roosts. Some counting in the northern part of the country has been affected by the large amount of rain in that part of the country. Heavy thunderstorm showers in the afternoons has affected counting in the evenings.

Counts in Wellington in the south western part of South Africa showed in increase from 2009 counts, and from the December 2009 count. A total of 700 birds were counted at the roost by a group of enthralled bird watchers. The roost is a Lesser Kestrel roost, but a single female Amur Falcon was also seen perched on a pylon before going in to roost.

A key objective of the Migrating Kestrel Project run by the Birds of Prey Working Group of the Endangered Wildlife Trust is to estimate the global population of Lesser Kestrels, Amur Falcons and Redfooted Falcons. This is done by a group of enthusiastic kestrel volunteers across the country, who count these small falcons at their roost sites. This year, the National Kestrel Counting Day is on Saturday, 23 January 2010.

Last season, the Migration Kestrel Project counted 172,029 migrating kestrels, which is the highest ever. This was mainly due to the large number of Amur Falcons that roosted in Southern Africa. We managed to count 63 roosts last year and I hope that we can achieve the same or more this season.

All are welcome to participate, and the project welcomes especially volunteers who can count at a roost site where we do not have volunteers. These can be found by looking at the kestrel counts from last season and noting in which towns there is no count for the roost. If you have any questions regarding the counting, please let me know. Useful downloads are:

If you still want to participate, please do your counting within one week of the 23rd of January 2010. We know that the birds move between roosts, so it is important to count close to this date as possible!

Satellite tracking of raptors on migration has become an indispensable tool in studying the routes taken by birds. It is especially useful when used in areas where there are little chance of recovering ringed birds.

In the past, it was not possible to track any of the small falcons due to the size of the satellite transmitters. However, in 2008, the first prototype transmitters became available that were small enough not to affect the survival of the birds (typically <3% of the body mass). Several studies have used these, including those on Eleanora's Falcon, Sooty Falcon, Hobby Falcon and Redfooted Falcon.

The Amur Falcon stands out as one of the most interesting birds to track. It migrates over a very long distance (eastern China to southern Africa), it has different routes to and from its breeding grounds and it supposedly flies several thousands of its journey across the sea.

Bernd Meyburg visited South Africa in January 2010, and with the help of Zephne and Herman Bernitz and Rina Pretorius and Sylva Francis, all volunteers of the Migrating Kestrel Project, trapped 10 Amur Falcons at the massive Newcastle roost and fitted satellite transmitters to these birds.

Already the data collected from these birds have shown that they are capable of moving large distances each day, and do move around between roosts. We look forward to watching them as they move back to their breeding grounds, where ever these are!

The first migrating kestrels have reached Southern Africa. While the Redfooted Falcons are now in southern Angola, the first Lesser Kestrels have been reported in South Africa. As usual, reports seem to come in over the same period, across the country so once again, there is no observed pattern of the birds moving down the country from north to south. The first reports of birds were of 14 Lesser Kestrels seen near their roost site in Koffiefontein, by Eddie Engelbrecht on 19 Octobert 2009. At the same time, Peter Sharland reported a small flock while birding north of Cape Town in the Atlantis region. Rick Nuttall reported Lesser Kestrels on the pylons on the outskirts of Bloemfontein on 24 October 2009 and Zephne Bernitz reported Lesser Kestrels in Middelburg, Mpumalanga around 21 October 2009.

There have not been any reports of Amur Falcon yet, other than a single sighting by Hannes Marais at the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve in mid-October. However, after seeing how close the Redfooted Falcons are to southern Africa (see satellite tracking below), the Amur Falcons are surely not far from the borders as well. However, if you do see an Amur Falcon, please remember that you are one of the first to see one, so make sure of your identification of the bird. Amur Falcons and Redfooted Falcon males are easily confused, so you will gain the confidence of your birder friends by making sure you have identified it as the correct species.

Since the first Hobby Falcons were tracked into southern Africa last season, technology has now advanced to the point that we are now in the position to track some of the most exciting migrations found in the raptor world. These are the migration routes of the Lesser Kestrel, Amur Falcon and Redfooted Falcons. These species migrate from the northern hemisphere into southern Africa, where their movements are not well known.

The first to use this new technology are the research group from Hungary who have put transmitters on a number of female Redfooted Falcons in Hungary, just before their departure from Europe to southern Africa. These birds can be tracked in almost realtime by anyone with access to the internet by looking at the Google-based map (Map of Redfooted Falcon migration).

This scientific work will be the first to answer a number of pertinent questions about small falcon migration into Africa including how they cross the Mediterranean, what limitations the expanse of the Sahara Desert or the equatorial African forests impose on these birds, how often they feed along the way, how often they rest and if they travel similar routes. Take a look at the web site, select which birds you want to look at, and there will be some interesting surprises. Gone are the theories that they want to take the route across the ocean with the shortest distance over water, or any speculation that the Sahara desert requires any special kind of route. However, note where they cross the equatorial forests. If you scroll throught the dates, you will see how the birds migrated down through Africa.

European Hobby satellite tracking sheds light on migrant activity in Africa - 2009-09-01

European Hobby with satellite transmitter

Up until now, satellite tracking has been limited to large birds because the mass of the transmitters was limited by advances in technology. Satellite tracking has become the standard method for long distance studies and there are many examples on the internet of very exciting studies where birds have been tracking all over the world. These studies have opened our eyes to the migration abilities and behviours of migrant birds. Technology has advanced to now allow satellite transmitters to break the 5 gram barrier, allowing the use of this technology on much smaller raptors.

The satellite tracking research group of Bernd Meyburg recently presented a poster on the first study of migration of the European Hobby (Falco subbuteo). An adult female was fitted with a prototype 5 gram transmitter near Berlin in Germany in August 2008. It was subsequently tracked on migration into southern Africa and back. The results of this study potentially shed light on behaviour of small migrant falcons to the southern Africa region.

You can the read the full results of this study from the poster from the web site www.Raptor-Research.de or here.

This study highlights some interesting facts about migration of these small falcons into Africa. Despite ending its trip in western Zimbabwe on the eastern side of Southern Africa, this hobby followed a route over the Sahara straight into West Africa, following the west coast of Africa into southern Angola. Only after spending time in Angola, did it head east across Botswana into Zimbabwe. This route is similar to the route followed by Eleanora's Falcon over the African equatorial forest barrier in the west, before turning east south of these forests. The equatorial forests of Africa are seen as significant ecological barriers and is supported by the fact that this bird covered the longest daily distances in this region (up to 580km per day - average was 174km per day) and even flew up until midnight on one of the days to get past the forest edge. The tracked hobby falcon took 49 days to get to southern Angola, stopping over on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean for several days on one day in Cameroon. It only migrated to Zimbabwe after 2 months in southern Angola and only stayed there for a short period. This shows that there is significant movement of migrant falcons in their wintering grounds, potentially over very long distances.

Another interesting aspect of the migration was that in the 25 weeks it spent in the wintering area, this bird only spent a maximum of one week in one area. just based on the fixes obtained (543 fixes), it was calculated that it covered a distance of at least 9,025km. The fixes were normally recorded 48 hours apart and the moved up to 300km between these fixes.

The behaviour of this bird is probably similar to that of the migrant Redfooted Falcon (Falco verspertinus) in the same northern Namibia-southern Angola area where the birds seem to be highly nomadic and hence difficult to count for the Migrating Kestrel Project. While Amur Falcons (Falco amurensis) and Lesser Kestrels (Falco naumanni) seem to make use of regular roosts, it is still unknown how much movement occurs between roosts, and this study indicates that it could be higher than originally anticipated.

The conservation of Migrating kestrel roosts has been a priority for the Migrating Kestrel Project over the last 6 years. As these birds often roost in trees in towns, the mess and noise that they make are often unpleasant for those living near the roosts. There have been many instances where owners of the property are not prepared to put up with the smell and noise and have had the roost trees felled. It has been difficult to advise landowners on the impact that roost removal has on the birds due to lack of scientific information on the impact on the birds. However, from past experience where roosts have been removed, the birds have either moved to other trees nearby or have vacated the area. Moving to a new roost site probably has little impact on the conservation of these small falcons, but they may move to trees thare are even more unsuitable than the trees they were in! More research is needed on this topic, but the current recommendations are that:

1. Landowners must get permission to fell roost trees because it is illeagal to interfere with endangered birds.

2. An assessment should be done by a nature conservation official of the area to look at potential other roosts trees in the area.

3. Roost trees must be felled in the summer period when the birds are not in the region.

As a strategy to highlight the importance of there birds and their roosts, a sign has been developed by the Migrating Kestrel Project that landowners or other interested people such as local bird or raptor clubs can erect at the roost site. The sign can be downloaded here. Sponsors of printing and for the poles and erecting are welcome to incorporate their logos on the sign as well, but please do not remove the logos of the other sponsors. Also, we would like anyone who does put up a sign to email it to me, so I can provide some examples of roosts signs in action on this web site.

Most of the counts have been collected for the 2008/9 migrating kestrel season. Thank you to all the volunteers who participated. In total, 43 roosts were counted, 27 with Lesser Lesser Kestrels, 32 with Amur Falcons and 4 with Redfooted Falcons. Key differences this year to previous years was the increase in the number of Amur Falcons, decrease in number of Lesser Kestrels and the increased number of Redfooted Falcons sharing roosts with the other migrating kestrels in South Africa.

Notable improvements were made in the collecting of data, most importantly by the Zimbabwe raptor enthusiasts that counted at several roosts in Zimbabwe on the National Kestrel Count day. Some volunteers particpated in the initiative to improve the counting by photographing the kestrel flocks, and this information will be sent to Denmark for analysis by Geoff Groom. Last, but not least, was the incredible counts from the Newcastle roost, where 29,800 Amur Falcons were counted. This most spectacular sight is one of the largest falcon roosts in the world!

The additional number of Amur Falcons is of great interest. The Migrating Kestrel Project has been concerned about the lack of Amur Falcons counted in previous years, especially considering that the bulk of the global population is supposed to winter in South Africa. Previously, it was suggested that the Amur Falcon population estimate be reviewed. However, this year the counted population doubled, and there is now speculation if this is related to a bumper breeding year of Amur Falcons, or the influx of a population of Amur Falcons that in previous years did not roost in South Africa. If the latter idea is the correct one, then were are the bulk of the population roosting?

The lastest results available for the National Kestrel Count Day (24 January 2009) are:
Lesser Kestrels: 57,334 (27 roosts)
Amur Falcons: 111,291 (32 roosts)
Redfooted Falcons: 3,404 (4 roosts)

Download the latest count totals for the 2008/9 season in the MKP_counts_2008.xls spreadsheet.

Kestreling

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