Kestrels
1.
KESTREL FEATURES
The kestrel is easy to recognise with its barred brown plumage, reddish back, pale underparts, black cheek flashes and bar on the tail feathers. The male and female are almost alike, but the male has a blue grey head, rump and tail, and the female has a brown barred head and tail.
The
head and body of the kestrel is 32 - 35 cm. long, and the tail 12 -15 cm.
long. The female is much heavier at 155 - 310 gm., compared with the male
that weighs only 136 - 252 gm.
With
a wingspan of 71 - 80 cm., the kestrel is a master of the air. It is capable
of hovering apparently motionless even in the strongest winds. The kestrel
hovers by matching the speed of the wind against which it flies, small
adjustments are then made to the trim of its tail
and wings, enabling the
kestrel to keep its head perfectly
still whilst watching for the movement of its prey.
2.
HABITAT
The
kestrel prefers the open country where its prey can be hunted from the air,
like farmland, heaths, marshes, uncultivated grassland, cliffs, coastal
dunes, rivers and wooded valleys. However it has also learnt to use man-made
habitats, such as roadside and motorway verges, or town parks, hunting mice
and voles as they run across the busy road.
3.
FOOD AND HUNTING
Kestrels
eat about a fifth of their body weight in one day. The main prey they hunt
are field voles, mice, shrews, moles, rats, frogs, and lizards. They
occasionally take worms and insects as snack food.
Kestrels
hunt by day, unlike many birds of prey. They usually hover above the ground
using their acute eyesight to spot their victims. As soon as a small animal
has been spotted the kestrel folds its wings and dives out of the sky,
swooping down and pinning its dinner to the ground with its strong claws.
When there is plenty of food, the kestrel will hunt from a perch, and launch
into a shallow dive when its prey is spotted.
4. BREEDING
Kestrels
do not build their own nests. They use old nests of other large birds such
as crows and pigeons, or the eggs are laid on a hole in a tree, a crevice in
a wall or cliff face, or on ledges on buildings.
The eggs are laid in April at two or three day intervals. A pair of birds will usually hatch from 3 to 6 young. The female incubates them straight away, whilst the male brings food. This means that the young are in different stages of development, increasing the chances of at least some of them surviving. The young generally leave the nest by late summer.
5.
KESTREL AND MAN
Kestrels were once hunted by gamekeepers, however they are now one of the few birds of prey that gamekeepers and farmers tolerate as they eat the rats, moles, and insects that farmers see as pests. Their numbers have increased dramatically over the last twenty years, partly due to their tolerance of modern farming methods.
Although much of the kestrels' natural habitat has been lost, they have adapted to live happily alongside man, finding ideal hunting grounds and nesting sites on motorway verges and derelict land in towns.
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