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Photo by ricardo g
Male photographed in: Castro Verde, Alentejo, Portugal

Falco naumanni

Photo by sevillek
Male photographed in: Alora, Andalucia

[edit] Identification

Size: length: 29-32 cm (11.5-12.3 in); wingspan: 58-72 cm (23-28.5 in).

Identifying perched female Lesser Kestrels can be difficult as they're very like female Common Kestrel, but they tend to have a 'cleaner' paler cheek which gives a more gentle look, the two central tail feathers often (but not always) project a little & the wings are longer too (reaching closer to the tail tip).

In flight they're more slender and usually have a less densely marked underwing. However it's generally easiest to wait a few moments for the more distinctive male to turn up!

The adult male is a distinctive little critter with a lovely powder blue head (often lacking any sign of a moustachial stripe which, when present, is always much fainter than in Common), the back unmarked rufous and the wings have a grey panel. The underwing is an almost unmarked white and the chest a gorgeous lightly marked salmon-pink.

Again in flight it looks slimmer and flies with more grace. On some birds the central tail feathers project even more markedly than most books illustrate. (Moulting Common Kestrels can show this feature but not to quite the same shape as in Lesser Kestrel).

Photo by Gabriel Rasson
Location: Larissa, Greece Female on right

Listen for the very distinctive 'chay-chay-chay' call!

[edit] Distribution

Europe, Asia and Africa. Now rare and declining over most of European range. Breeds in central and southern Iberia, including Gibraltar, patchily in north-east Spain and southern France, Sardinia, Sicily and the southern tip of Italy and irregularly in South-East Europe. More widespread and numbers higher in Greece and Turkey and from the Ukraine and southern Russia east into Asia. In North Africa found in scattered parts of north Morocco, north Algeria and Tunisia and in the Middle East in Syria, possibly still Lebanon, Jordan and Israel although numbers have declined considerably. In many areas breeding is irregular or sporadic but numbers have increased in Portugal and southern France with the provision of nest-boxes. Breeding range extends westwards from the Caspian to western Sinkiang, Mongolia and Hopeh in northern China.

A summer visitor to most of breeding range, wintering throughout sub-Saharan Africa and India, rarely also Burma. Small numbers remain in winter in southern Spain, especially the Guadalquivir Valley, and also North Africa and southern Turkey. A broad-front migrant but regularly seen at Gibraltar. Most leave Europe August-September and return late February-April.

'Vagrants recorded north to Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland also on the Canary Islands. British records (c.18) have occurred mainly in spring and have ranged from the Isles of Scilly north to Fair Isle. In the east recorded as a vagrant on Tsushima Island, Japan.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Habitat

Dry open country, semi-desert, grassland and cultivated land.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

Feeds mainly on insects.

[edit] Vocalisation

Call "chay-chay-chay"

[edit] External Links

• View more images of this species on Orientalbirdimages