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Lesser Kestrels are a kind of birds which have a particular fascination for British birdwatchers. They’re very uncommon birds in Britain, however have been recorded from Scilly within the south to Truthful Isle within the north. They are often difficult to establish, particularly in case you haven’t seen one earlier than, although with expertise they aren’t actually so tough. Lesser Kestrel actually is an applicable identify, for they’re a lesser chicken than the acquainted Widespread Kestrel. They weigh much less, and their wings and tail are each shorter, giving them a slightly extra compact look.
There are distinct plumage variations, too. The cock is an altogether brighter chicken, his red-brown again unspotted, his head a brighter shade of blue, and with out the larger chicken’s distinctive moustache. The feminine is slightly extra refined in her variations to Falco tinnunculus, however one attribute that each sexes share are the elongated central tail feathers (see the {photograph} above). And in contrast to the Widespread Kestrel, Lessers are extremely gregarious. In the event you see a flock of kestrels in southern Europe, then the probabilities are that they are going to be Lessers, for the Widespread Kestrel by no means flocks, although sometimes in summer season you will notice a household searching collectively.
In Europe, Lesser Kestrels are birds of the Mediterranean zone, nesting primarily in Spain and Portugal, southern France, Sardinia, the Balkans and components of Greece. They’re usually considered summer season guests, arriving again from their wintering grounds in Africa in March, and departing once more in September. Nevertheless, in Southern Spain a small variety of birds are resident. This isn’t a brand new growth linked to international warming, however was first famous 80 years in the past. Intriguingly, it’s solely the adults that stay, whereas my observations counsel that it’s primarily the cocks that keep. Final month in Andalucia I noticed solely males. Maybe some females stay, too, however I didn’t see any. (The {photograph} beneath, exhibiting a pair at their nest gap, was taken at Tarifa, Spain’s southern-most city, in April.)
On their breeding grounds in Spain, Lesser Kestrels are very a lot metropolis birds, for 95% of the inhabitants nests in cities. I noticed my first on Seville Cathedral greater than 50 years in the past, and I’m delighted to say that this enormous Gothic constructing (one of many greatest church buildings on the earth) nonetheless helps a colony right this moment. Work on the cathedral began in 1402, and it took a century to finish: I’m wondering when the kestrels first began nesting there? The kestrel colony is valued by the town of Seville: in recent times renovation work on the roof of the cathedral was suspended through the falcons’ breeding season.
Final month I visited three Andalucian cities with colonies of Lesser Kestrels: Arcos de la Frontera, Marchena and Carmona. I wasn’t assured that I’d discover any birds in any respect in early February, however although numbers had been small at every website, a number of people had been current, and there have been noisy territorial shows, regardless of the absence of females. In line with the Birds of the Western Palearctic, they are going to assault Ravens and Egyptian and Griffon Vultures in the event that they stray too near their nest websites, whereas ignoring buzzards harriers and kites. Nevertheless, the looks of a Peregrine or Booted Eagle “causes widespread panic on the colony, birds circling up excessive into the sky to keep away from them”.
BWP additionally notes that these birds are predominately, although not at all solely, insect eaters, which poses the query as to what these over-wintering people eat. The reply is prone to be a better share of small mammals and birds than they take in the summertime.
Watching flocks of those engaging little falcons feeding is aways a pleasant sight. They normally fly low over the bottom, and as BWP describes, frequently flip into the wind to hover briefly earlier than making one other circle. The hovering is usually for shorter intervals than that of Widespread Kestrels, with much less wing flapping.
I’ve fond recollections of watching flocks feeding on the open veld in South Africa, the place hundreds spend the winter. The birds I noticed there have been almost definitely Asian breeders, for they don’t begin to migrate north till March, by which era the European-breeding birds are already crossing the Mediterranean.
The quantity breeding in Europe is sort of actually a lot lowered from what it was a century in the past, however in Spain the birds at the moment are valued and guarded. The inhabitants in Andalucia in 2012 was 5,057 pairs – over one third of the Spanish inhabitants. Nevertheless, a drastic decline adopted, and census outcomes for 2016 and 2017 produced counts of round 2,500 pairs. It’s unclear as to the explanations, but it surely’s thought that agricultural intensification, discount in prey availability and the destruction or demolition of outdated buildings have all contributed. The conversion of open land to intensive olive groves has additionally had a adverse influence on the colonies: right this moment there are components off Andalucia the place olive groves stretch from one horizon to the opposite, a miserable EU-funded monoculture that’s disastrous for biodiversity.
Nevertheless, the Lesser Kestrel has acquired assist. The Grupo para la Rehabilitación de la Fauna Autóctona y su Hábitat (GREFA) began a ‘Corridors for Lesser Kestrels’ venture in 2006, and by 2012 it had put in over 2,000 synthetic nests throughout the areas of Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Madrid. Finance got here from nationwide and regional governments. The brand new nests achieved a formidable occupancy charge of round 50% and allowed 30 new colonies to be established.
Some years in the past I visited Villafáfila in Castile Leon. Right here lots of the historical dovecotes have been restored for the kestrels to nest in. These dovecotes kind a lovely function of the countryside, so their restoration delights the attention in addition to serving to the kestrels. By the way, this area of Spain is notable for its inhabitants of Nice Bustards, with the best density on the earth. Watching a drove of bustards feeding throughout the steppe, accompanied by flocks of foraging kestrels and singing Calandra Larks, is a memorable expertise.
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