Kestrel Calls:
Kestrel (scientific name: Falco tinnunculus, English name: Common Kestrel)
Aliases Red Eagle, Tea Falcon, Yellow Eagle, Red Harrier, Yellow Arrow, Chopper, Old World Kestrel, Eurasian Kestrel, European Kestrel
Small birds of prey, belonging to the falcon genus Falcon family Falconidae. The underside of the eyes has a black corner stripe that goes vertically downwards. It inhabits mountains and wilderness, is active in singles or pairs, and flies higher. It can catch rodents, small birds and insects moving on the ground. The value and conservation status of kestrels is similar to that of falcons, but the black market trading price is slightly lower than that of falcons.
Produced in the Old World, sometimes called the Old World Kestrel, Eurasian Kestrel or European Kestrel, the Kestrel is slightly larger than the American Falcon distributed in North and South America, but less vividly colored.
There is also the Australian Kestrel (scientific name: Falco cenchroides).
The kestrel is a national second-class protected animal in China and the national bird of Belgium.
Small (33 cm) russet falcon.
The male has grey on the top of the head and nape of the neck, a blue-gray tail without transverse spots, a slightly black transverse spot on the upper body, and a yellowish skin with black longitudinal stripes on the lower body.
The female is slightly larger: the upper body is completely brown, and it is less russet and more coarse and transverse than the male.
Sub-adult birds: similar to females, but with heavier longitudinal stripes.
It is distinguished from the yellow-clawed falcon in that it has a rounded tail , a larger body , and a striped beard , while males have spots on their backs , more longitudinal stripes on their lower bodies , and lighter cheeks.
Iris - brown; mouth - gray and black at the end, wax film yellow; feet - yellow.
Cry: Harsh shout yak yak yak yak yak ya
The kestrel has a vertical downward black corner beard under the eye, which is one of the most obvious differences between it and the yellow-clawed falcon, which has no horizontal stripes and spots on the back. Yellow-clawed falcons are rare in China.
The shape of the tail feathers of the kestrel is convex, which is different from the round tail of the swallow falcon, the mawn, etc.
Picture of the Yellow Claw Falcon
Range: Africa , Palearctics , India and China ; wintering in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
Distribution: Very common resident birds and seasonal migratory birds, named subspecies breed in northeast and northwest China; interstinctus is a resident bird, spreading everywhere except in arid deserts. Northern birds migrate south to southern China, Hainan Island and Taiwan in winter.
Kestrel is distributed abroad in Europe, Africa, northeast Asia, Yemen, India, Japan, the Philippines and other places, and is almost woven throughout the country in China. It is the most common Hayabusa.
Habits: Kestrels usually like to move alone, especially in the evening. Strong flying power, like to fly against the wind, can quickly flapping wings to stop in the air. Quick vision, rapid feeding, rapid swooping when there is food on the ground, and catching small birds and dragonflies in the air. Nesting in trees or caves in rock walls, it is often preferable to preempt crows and magpies' nests, or to exploit their old nests with eagles. Migration is often grouped in small groups, especially in autumn. Every day at dawn begins the activity, the wings are quickly stirred as they fly, and occasionally a short glide is carried out. When inhabiting, it is mostly on the trees of tall, isolated trees in open areas or on power poles. The call is monotonous and sharp, much like the sound of a bell.
Habitats: Kestrel inhabits a variety of habitats such as montane forests, forest tundras, low hills, grasslands, wilderness, forest plains, farmland and near villages, especially in forest margins, interstudent clearings, sparse forests and wildernesses, river valleys and farmland areas where sparse trees grow, but are rare in dense forests.
Feeding habits: Mainly feeds on insects such as locusts, grasshoppers, giddings, lice, crickets, etc., and also eats small ridge pushers such as rodents, passeriformes, frogs, lizards, squirrels, and snakes. Foraging activities in the daytime, mainly in the air foraging, or in the high wind to spread wings, or flying low on the ground to search for food, sometimes instigate two wings in the air for a short stay to observe the prey, once found prey, then fold the wings, suddenly swoop down and swoop down to pounce on the prey, after capture on the spot to swallow, and then suddenly fly from the ground, quickly rise into the air. Sometimes it is also used to stand high on the rocks of the hill, or to stand on the top of a tree and a telephone pole and wait, waiting for the prey to appear in front of you before suddenly attacking.
The breeding season is from May to July.
Nests usually take place in cliffs, rock crevices on hillsides, earth caves, tree holes and old nests of magpies, crows and other birds in trees. The nest is relatively simple, consisting of dead branches and covered with grass stems, fallen leaves and feathers.
Each clutch usually lays 4 to 5 eggs, occasionally as many as 8 and as few as 3. If the nest eggs are destroyed, they usually have to make compensatory one-way nest, but the number of eggs laid is significantly reduced, usually 2 to 3. The eggs are white or ochre in color and are densely covered with reddish-brown spots, but some are only covered with a few reddish-brown spots at the blunt end. Usually an egg is laid every 1 or 2 days, and after the first egg is laid, the female no longer leaves the nest, sometimes lying in the nest, sometimes standing on a rock protruding outside the nest mouth. The incubation of eggs is mainly undertaken by the female, and the male takes on the task of guarding, flying back to the stone wall or canopy near the nest area at regular intervals, and occasionally replacing the female to incubate the eggs, with an incubation period of 28 to 30 days.
The chicks are late-growing, weighing only 13 to 14 grams when they hatch, and the whole body is covered with sparse white down feathers, the head is large and thin, it is in a creeping state, barely able to shake its head, and after 10 days it becomes a light gray down feather. The chicks are fed together by the parent birds for about 30 days or so.
The species has a wide distribution range, is not close to the fragile endangered threshold standard for the survival of the species (distribution area or fluctuation range is less than 20,000 square kilometers, habitat quality, population size, distribution area fragmentation), the population trend is stable, so it is evaluated as a species without survival crisis.
There are 11 subspecies in the world and 2 subspecies in China
The nominate subspecies are resident birds in Xinjiang, resident birds or summer migratory birds in Heilongjiang and northeastern Inner Mongolia, winter migratory birds or traveling birds in Beijing, and rare winter migratory birds in other regions such as Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan and Taiwan.
In the spring, they move to the northern breeding grounds from mid-March to mid-April, and leave the breeding grounds from the beginning of October to the end of October. The common subspecies are distributed in most areas except Xinjiang and are mostly resident birds.
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