Species Guide: Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Family: Falconidae
The Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), also known as the European, Eurasian, or Old World kestrel, is a small falcon distributed across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is known for its hovering (“windhover”) while scanning for prey. The species occupies diverse habitats and has a large global population, though declines have occurred regionally.
Appearance
Male
Adult males typically show a grey-blue head and tail (the tail usually has a dark terminal band), rufous-brown upperparts with dark spotting, and a pale, streaked underside. Males often appear more colourful and less heavily barred than females.
Female
Females are larger and more heavily patterned: overall browner, with stronger dark barring across the back and tail, and lacking the male’s grey head.
Juvenile
Juveniles resemble females but have fresher, fluffier plumage and more streaking on the breast and flanks. Young may appear paler or warmer-toned until their first molt.
Diet
Common Kestrels are opportunistic predators but primarily eat small vertebrates, especially rodent-sized mammals such as voles, mice, and shrews, plus small birds, lizards, and seasonally abundant large insects (e.g., grasshoppers). Insect prey may become important in warm months or where small mammals are scarce. They use excellent eyesight (including some UV sensitivity) to pick up subtle signs of prey activity.
Habitat
Kestrels favour open or semi-open habitats where they can hunt by hovering or perching: farmland, grassland, heaths, marsh edge, steppes, and even urban fringes. They do not require dense woodland but do depend on perches or vertical features (trees, poles, buildings, cliffs) and suitable nest sites such as cavities, cliff ledges, or old corvid/ruffed nests. Their adaptability means they are found in rural and some urban landscapes across a very large native range.
Summer
Resident
Passage
Winter
Behavior
Hunting & daily behaviour
Kestrels are well known for hunting from a stationary hover (windhovering) at 5–20 m above ground, or by scanning from a perch before dropping on prey. They are diurnal and often show seasonally flexible diets and hunting heights depending on prey and wind.
Vocalisations / calls
Common Kestrels produce a characteristic high, thin “kee-kee-kee” or “ki-ki-ki” call used in alarm, territorial defence, and sometimes during courtship and food-carrying flights. Juveniles also have distinctive begging calls at the nest.
Common Kestrel Call:
Lars Edenius, xeno-canto.org
Reproduction & life cycle
- Breeding system: Usually monogamous for a season.
- Nest sites: Cavities, cliff ledges, tree holes, old nests of other birds, or buildings. They readily use nest boxes.
- Eggs & clutch size: Typically 3–6 eggs; eggs are incubated ~26–32 days.
- Fledging: Young fledge around 4–5 weeks, and remain dependent for a further period as they learn to hunt. Annual breeding timing varies with latitude. Life-history data and productivity have been tracked extensively in ringing and nest-record programs.
Biometrics2
| Wing Length | 32-35 cm |
| Wing Span | 72-80 cm |
| Body Weight | 156-252 grams |
| Longevity | ~12 Years |
Natural Predators
Adult kestrels have few natural predators but are vulnerable to larger raptors (e.g., goshawks, large eagles, and owls) and, near nests, mammalian nest predators (foxes, martens) or human-related predators (feral cats) can take eggs or young. Studies from several regions show goshawks and other larger Accipiter species can be significant threats where ranges overlap.
Relationship to Humans
Kestrels have a long-standing cultural presence across their range:
- They have been used in falconry (smaller raptors were valued as easy-to-maintain hunting companions).
- In literature and poetry, the kestrel appears as the “windhover” (e.g., Gerard Manley Hopkins) and is admired for its hovering skill.
- Folktales and local fables sometimes cast the kestrel as a messenger, omen, or trickster bird. Stories vary by country and culture and are often tied to the kestrel’s visible hunting behaviour and bold presence near farms and villages. Contemporary folkloric retellings and druidic/folk stories also exist in regional collections.
Conservation Status
Global status: The species is currently assessed as Least Concern by large-scale assessments because of its very large range and large total population (estimated in the millions). However, population trends are not uniform across its range, and declines have been reported in parts of Europe. BirdLife International reports a global population in the low millions but notes a decreasing trend in many areas.
Regional concerns & causes: In several countries (for example, parts of the UK, Ireland, and other European regions), kestrel numbers have declined sufficiently to raise conservation concerns and trigger national red/amber listings in regional bird conservation reviews. Research has linked declines to a mix of causes: habitat change and agricultural intensification (loss of foraging habitat and prey), collision and persecution, and especially secondary poisoning from rodenticides (second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, SGARs) that accumulate through rodent prey. Peer-reviewed analyses implicate rodenticide exposure as a likely contributor to widespread declines in rodent-eating raptors, including the Common Kestrel. Conservation action in many places focuses on protecting foraging habitat, reducing rodenticide use, and monitoring breeding success.
U.K.
Conservation Status
Global
Conservation Status
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Related Articles
CITATIONS
- By IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, species assessors and the authors of the spatial data., CC BY-SA 3.0, [Accessed 22/10/2025] ↩︎
- RSPB [Accessed 22/20/2025] ↩︎
