Kestrel Species

There are 16 kestrel species and the aim of this section is add information that is not available in the many species accounts on the internet. Many of these species accounts can be found in the Links section of this web site.

Several of the photos used here were gleened off the internet. If I have used one of your photos, I am happy to acknowledge you, and if you feel that I have violated a copyright, please let me know and I will remove the picture. If you have a good picture of the one of the species listed here that could be used on this web site, please contact me.

Much of the information presented is from the literature. A reference list is included at the bottom of the page.

Fox Kestrel (Falco alopex)
Photo: Bill Clark

Species accounts: Fox Kestrel account on GRIN
Taxonomy: The Fox Kestrel has only once race.
Distribution: Southern Mali and Ivory Coast east to Eritrea, western Ethiopia, north eastern Uganda and northern Kenya.
General Notes: Fox Kestrels have been recorded foraging at fires in Africa. This was observed by Christian Boix-Hinzen of Tropical Birding in Cameroon in March 2006 where they were photographed. Click here to read more...
Guy Rondeau has contributed a number of photographs of Fox Kestrel (see the Gallery Section) and contributed the following general information on these birds in West Africa:
About this species in the West African context, this kestrel has a very patchy distribution.  Many times, it is not found in places where you would expect to see it, like near rocky hills.  Furthermore, I have seen it at a few occasions hunting, most of the time in pairs, in grassy plains and in lighted wooded savannas far from any rocky outcrops or particular relief (during the dry season when it should be breeding I believe). This is a very easy bird to observe as it is quite obvious in its hunting behaviour, so it is easy to determine if this species is present or absent from a site.  I have sometime seen this species in small "groups" of 4 or 5 birds; most probably a family.  I am not aware of this species breeding in loose colonies in the rocky hills of West Africa. I have never seen this species catching on the wing; always catching its prey on the ground.  I did not spent much time observing it hunting, but I have seen it always hunting insects (during the dry season anyway as I am not frequent in the Sahel belt area during the rains).  I have never seen around bush fires.

There isn't much information on this species, so if you every get the opportunity to see one, spend some time watching it, take down as much notes on you can. Any information on behaviour, food, number of individuals together, hunting techniques, signs of nesting behaviour, etc. would be valueable. We don't even have good records on how many eggs it lays, not to mention incubation and nestling periods. Anything you see is potentially something one can publish because so little is known. If you need help in understanding what you saw or writing it up, please contact me, I will try to help as much as possible.

White-eyed Kestrel / Greater Kestrel (Falco rupicoloides)
Photo: Transvaal Museum

Species accounts: White-eyed Kestrel account on GRIN
Taxonomy & Distribution: Three races are recognized by Ferguson-Lees & Christie (2005) including:
F.r. fieldi - Eritrea, northern and eastern Ethiopia and north western Somalia
F.r. arthuri - Southern Sudan, northern Uganda, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania
F.r. rupicoloides - South western and south eastern Angola, western Zambia and western Zimbabwe, extending south into southern South Africa
General Notes: Reasonably well known, mostly thanks to the 15 year study that Alan Kemp did on this species in South Africa.

Rock Kestrel (Falco rupicolus)
Photo: Transvaal Museum

Taxonomy: The Rock Kestrel has been recently recognized as a species separate from the Common Kestrel of which it was previously recognized as a race, Falco tinnunculus rupicolus. This has support from DNA tests done by Jim Groombridge.
Distribution: Central Angola east to Mozambique, south the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.
General Notes: Some aspects of this species are reasonably well known, most thanks to my (Anthony van Zyl) work on them in South Africa.

Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Photo: Nigel Blake

Species accounts: Common Kestrel account on GRIN
Taxonomy & Distribution: The Common Kestrel has a wide distribution with many races. The number of races vary from author to author, the most recent from Ferguson-Lees & Christie (2005) include:
Mainland races:
F.t. tinnuculus - Europe, North Africa and Asia east to eastern central Siberia, south to northern China and east to Bhutan. Winters south to central Africa and southern Asia.
F.t. perpallidus - North eastern Siberia to north east China and Korea. Winters in east and south east Asia
F.t. interstinctus - China, east to Japan, south to the eastern Himalayas and Indochina. Winters mainly in southern Asia
F.t. objurgatus - Western India (Western Ghats) and Sri Lanka
F.t. rupicolaeformis - Egypt and Arabia
F.t. archeri - Somalia, north eastern Kenya and Socotra Island
Small, dark Afrotropical races:
F.t. rufuscens - West Africa east to Eritrea, south (except for the tropical forest zone) to northern Angola and southern Tanzania.
Canary Island races:
F.t. canariensis - Madeira and western Canaries (Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Palma, Gomera, Hierro)
F.t. dacotiae - Eastern Canaries (Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Graciosa, Allegranza, Montana Clara)
Cape Verde Island races:
F.t. neglectus - North western Cape Verde Islands (Santo Antao, Sao Vicente, Santa Luzia, Branco, Raso, Sao Nicolau)
F.t. alexandri - Eastern and southern Cape Verde Islands (Sal, Boa Vista, Maio, Santiago, Fogo, Brava, Rombo)
General Notes: One of the best known kestrels, with much work coming from various scientists in the United Kingdom, Europe and Israel. Andrew Village wrote a very comprehensive book in 1990 on this species called The Kestrel.

Moluccan Kestrel (Falco moluccensis)
Photo: Baskoro Manjer Kawuryan

Species accounts: Moluccan Kestrel account on GRIN
Taxonomy & Distribution: The Moluccan Kestrel is an allospecies with the Australian Kestrel, Falco cenchroides. Two races are recognized by Ferguson-Lees & Christie (2005) including:
F.m. microbalius - Sulawesi and adjacent islands, Java, Kangean, Balie and Lesser Sundas
F.m. moluccensis - Moluccas south to Buru, Seram and Ambon
General Notes: Not well known.

Australian Kestrel / Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides)
Photo:

Species accounts: Australian Kestrel account on GRIN
General Notes: Partly known, a few papers published on this species. Still a lot of scope for more work.

Mauritius Kestrel (Falco punctatus)
Photo:

Species accounts: Mauritius Kestrel account on GRIN
Taxonomy: The Mauritius Kestrel is an allospecies with the Malagasy Spotted and Seychelles Kestrels. The Mauritius Kestrel is the nominate species for the allospecies and has only once race.
Distribution: Mauritius
General Notes: Reasonably well known because of the intensive research programme (led by Carl Jones) to save this species. Population dynamics, conservation and genetic aspects very well known.

Malagasy Spotted Kestrel (Falco newtoni)
Photo: Anke Poggel

Species accounts: Madagascar Kestrel account on GRIN
Taxonomy & Distribution: The Malagasy Spotted Kestrel is an allospecies with the Mauritius and Seychelles Kestrels. Two races are recognized by Ferguson-Lees & Christie (2005) including:
F.n. aldabranus - restricted to the island of Aldabra
F.n. newtoni - Madgascar
General Notes: Not well known

Seychelles Kestrel (Falco araea)
Photo: Peter Nash

Species accounts: Seychelles Kestrel account on GRIN
Taxonomy: The Seychelles Kestrel is an allospecies with the Malagasy Spotted and Mauritius Kestrels.T he Seychelles Kestrel has only once race.
Distribution: Seychelles
General Notes: Not well known, I am only aware of one ecological paper published in Ibis by Watson on this species. Jim Groombridge is currently working on this species (see Genetics study of the Seychelles Kestrel Research project web page)

Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni)
Photo: Transvaal Museum

Species accounts: Lesser Kestrel account on GRIN
Taxonomy: The Lesser Kestrel has only once race.
Distribution: South western and southern Europe, North west Africa, east to Northern Mongolia, and in south to Middle East, Transcaspia and China (east to Shanxi). Winters in sub-Saharan Africa.
Behaviour:In wintering grounds, often seen at an eruption of a food source (for example, alate termites, locust swarms) swooping and gliding as they catch food and eat it on the wing.
General Notes: Well known, a huge amount of work coming out in the 1990s when this bird was classified as Vulnerable in the Red Data Book.  Most of this work is from Europe and there is a lot of scope to do more work on these birds in their wintering grounds.

Redfooted Falcon (Falco vespertinus)
Photo: unknown

Species accounts: Redfooted Falcon account on GRIN
General Notes: Not well known.

Amur Falcon (Falco amurensis)
Photo: Martin Goetz (Transvaal Museum)

Species accounts: Amur Falcon account on GRIN
General Notes: Not well known.
Some interesting aspects of the Amur Falcon migration are that:

1. It has one of the of longest migration routes of all birds, from eastern China all the way to southern Africa.
2. We are not 100% sure of its migration route, but current thinking is that it migrates about 2000km across the sea between India and the east African coast.  Migrating over the sea is unusual for raptors.
3. It has been recorded to migrate during the night.  Very little is know about night migration in birds of prey.

Grey Kestrel (Falco ardosiaceus)
Photo: Paul & Helen Harris

Species accounts: Gray Kestrel account on GRIN
Taxonomy: The Grey Kestrel has only once race.
Distribution: West Africa east disjunctly to western Ethiopia, western Kenya and western Tanzania. From Angola and southern Democratic Republic of Congo south to extreme northern Namibia.
General Notes: Not well known.

Dickinson's Kestrel (Falco dickinsoni)
Photo: Transvaal Museum

Species accounts: Dickinson's Kestrel account on GRIN
Taxonomy: The Dickinson's Kestrel has only once race.
Distribution: Angola east to south eastern Tanzania (including Pemba and Zanzibar), south to north eastern Namibia, northern Botswana, Mozambique and extreme north eastern South Africa.
General Notes: Not well known.

Madagascar Barred Kestrel / Banded Kestrel (Falco zoniventris)
Photo: Giuliano Gerra & Silvio Sommazzi

Species accounts: Banded Kestrel account on GRIN
Taxonomy: The Madagascar Barred Kestrel has only once race.
Distribution: Over much of Madagascar except on the high plateau. Distribution is patchy.
General Notes: Not well known. At one time thought to be rare but now considered locally common, although always difficult to see because of its preferred forest habitat.

American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
Photo: Stan Moore

Species accounts: American Kestrel account on GRIN
General Notes: Well known.

References:

Ferguson-Lees, J & Christie, DA. 2005. Raptors of the world: a Field Guide. Christopher Helm, London.
Global Raptor Information Network. 2006. Species accounts.