The lesser kestrel (''Falco naumanni'') is a small

falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

. This

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

breeds from the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

across

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and Central Asia, to China and

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

. It is a summer migrant, wintering in Africa and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and sometimes even to India and Iraq. It is rare north of its breeding range, and declining in its European range. The genus name derives from Late Latin ''falx'', ''falcis'', a

sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting or reaping grain crops, or cutting Succulent plant, succulent forage chiefly for feedi ...

, referencing the claws of the bird, and the species name commemorates the German naturalist

Johann Friedrich Naumann Johann Friedrich Naumann (14 February 1780 – 15 August 1857) was a German scientist, engraver, and editor. He is regarded as the founder of scientific ornithology in Europe. He published ''The Natural History of German Birds'' (1820–1844) ...

Description

It is a small

bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

, in length with a wingspan. It looks very much like the larger

common kestrel The common kestrel (''Falco tinnunculus''), also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel or Old World kestrel, is a species of bird of prey, predatory bird belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family (biology), family Falconidae. ...

but has proportionally shorter wings and tail. It shares a brown back and barred grey underparts with the larger species. The male has a grey head and tail like male common kestrels, but lacks the dark spotting on the back, the black malar stripe, and has grey patches in the wings. The female and young birds are slightly paler than their relative, but are so similar that call and structure are better guides than plumage. The call is a diagnostic harsh ''chay-chay-chay'', unlike the common kestrel's ''kee-kee-kee''. Neither sex has dark talons as is usual in falcons; those of this species are an unusual whitish-horn colour. This is however only conspicuous when birds are seen at very close range.

Taxonomy

Despite its outward similarity, this species appears not to be closely related to the common kestrel. In fact,

mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in ...

cytochrome ''b''

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is cal ...

analysis places it at a basal position with regards to the other "true" kestrels (i.e., excluding the

American kestrel The American kestrel (''Falco sparverius'') is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. Though it has been called the American sparrowhawk, this common name is a misnomer; the American kestrel is a true falcon, while neither th ...

and probably the grey African kestrels as well). Its divergence is tentatively placed to around the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Messinian The Messinian is in the geologic timescale the last age or uppermost stage of the Miocene. It spans the time between 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma and 5.333 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago). It follows the Tortonian and is followed by the Zanclean, the fir ...

Zanclean The Zanclean is the lowest stage or earliest age on the geologic time scale of the Pliocene. It spans the time between 5.332 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago) and 3.6 ± 0.005 Ma. It is preceded by the Messinian Age of the Miocene Epoch, and f ...

, or about 7–3.5 mya). The morphological similarity with the common kestrel is puzzling, but it still appears to betray the present species' actual relationships; the lack of a malar stripe seems ancestral for kestrels, and the grey wing colour unites the lesser kestrel with most other ''Falco'' species, but not the other true kestrels. Although currently considered

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

with no subspecies, a range-wide investigation published in 2025 revealed a deep genetic divide between a southwestern population and a northeastern population, divided by the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains * * Azerbaijani: , * * * * * * * * * * * is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...

; the two populations differ markedly in adaptation and ecology, and show only very limited intergradation. The two populations also winter separately, with the southwestern wintering in the

Sahel The Sahel region (; ), or Sahelian acacia savanna, is a Biogeography, biogeographical region in Africa. It is the Ecotone, transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the drier Sahara to the north. The Sahel has a ...

region of tropical northern Africa from Senegal east to Sudan, and the northeastern wintering from Ethiopia south to South Africa.

Ecology

The lesser kestrel is, as the name implies, a smaller and more delicate bird than the common kestrel, and it is entirely

sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

in its breeding range with it; they compete to a limited extent. Thus, the possibility that there is some form of adaptive advantage to the similar colour deserves study. Considering that the lesser kestrel would in fact have an advantage if some would-be

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

s confused it with the larger species and consequently avoided it, it might be a case of

Müllerian mimicry Müllerian mimicry is a natural phenomenon in which two or more well-defended species, often foul-tasting and sharing common predators, have come to mimicry, mimic each other's honest signal, honest aposematism, warning signals, to their mutuali ...

. The lesser kestrel eats

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s, but also small birds, reptiles and rodents (especially mice), which are often taken on the ground. It nests colonially on buildings, cliffs, or in tree holes, laying up to 3–6 eggs. No nest structure is built, which is typical for falcons. On their wintering grounds in West Africa, lesser kestrels favour a "latitude belt" through Senegal where locusts and grasshoppers are plentiful. Surveys of lesser kestrels wintering in January 2007 by the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux revealed them roosting communally. A roost in Senegal discovered during one of the surveys held 28,600 birds, together with 16,000 scissor-tailed kites ''Chelictinia riocourii''. It is widespread and plentiful on a global scale, and the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

have classed it as Least Concern. Apart from possible

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

, it appears that indiscriminate use of

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...

s has a strong effect on this species due to its insectivorous habits.

Gallery

File:Lesser Kestrel from Fujeirah.jpg, Lesser Kestrel from Fujeirah File:Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) couple (12819743614).jpg, Pair on the wintering grounds in South Africa File:LLesser kestrel chicks and their parent.jpg, Male lesser kestrel feeding chicks File:Lesser kestrel chicks - 01.jpg, Chicks of the lesser kestrel File:Falco naumanni, Negev 1.jpg, Male lesser kestrel feeding his chicks with '' Laudakia stellio'',

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

desert, Israel File:Falco naumanni MWNH 2023.JPG, Egg, Collection

Museum Wiesbaden The Museum Wiesbaden is a two-branch museum of Art museum, art and Natural history museum, natural history in the Hesse, Hessian capital of Wiesbaden, Germany. It is one of the three Hessian State museums, in addition to the museums in Hessian ...

Falco naumanni MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.104.2.jpg, Eggs, Collection MHNT

References

External links

Lesser kestrel species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds

Ageing and sexing (PDF; 3.5 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
* * {{Authority control

lesser kestrel The lesser kestrel (''Falco naumanni'') is a small falcon. This species breeds from the Mediterranean across Afghanistan and Central Asia, to China and Mongolia. It is a summer bird migration, migrant, wintering in Africa and Pakistan and someti ...

Birds of Eurasia Messinian first appearances Birds of Africa Extant Miocene first appearances