Michele Mendi

The species occurs in open habitats with little or low vegetation – steppe-like grasslands, pastures, cultivations, also in and around human settlements where it primarily breeds in Europe. Its breeding range extends from the Mediterranean region (S Europe and N Africa) to S Siberia and N China (Orta & Kirwan 2020). About half of the European population is located in Spain (Keller et al. 2020).

Eurasian-African migrant. The European populations winter primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.

Its population trend in Europe is stable on a short-term and increasing – on a long-term basis. Evaluated as “Least Concern” (BirdLife International 2022).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendStable
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		65900-85200,73400
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Lesser Kestrel

The species is a long-distance migrant, the populations breeding in Europe winter in W, E and S Africa; locally resident in small numbers in the C & W Mediterranean region (Orta & Kirwan 2020).

Birds breeding in the Iberian Peninsula and S France take SW routes, the farthest encounters being in Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde Is and Morocco. In addition, this population has generated multiple short-distance encounters within SW Europe. Two juveniles marked in Spain are encountered in subsequent years in Italy during autumn migration.

Birds from the currently extinct population in Austria are encountered during the mid-20th century SW, S and SE from their breeding grounds – mostly Italy, but also as far as Tunisia and Greece.

A juvenile bird marked in S European Russia is encountered wintering in Namibia.

Recoveries by Condition for Lesser Kestrel

The bulk of encounters are obtained after the early 1990s. They come from mainly from the breeding season, peaking in Jun (39% of all cases). Majority of encounters (88%) are recorded in SW Europe. The overall picture regarding the recovery condition categories did not change much until 1990 – 79-88% of the encounters are based on dead birds vs. 8-12% based on alive birds. The situation after 1991 significantly improved with figures 21 and 78% respectively. Shooting was an important factor until recently – 31-46% pre-1990; nowadays it accounts for less than 1% of all cases. Most encounters currently come from alive birds due to ringing, including nestboxes (2.6% of all cases) and metal rings read in the field.

Very few distant (>= 50km) ringing encounters S of Sahara are available.

Annual Movements for Lesser Kestrel

Post-breeding movements take place from early Aug, autumn migration in S Europe is evident early Aug to early Oct; spring migration is in Mar-May (peak in Apr).

Strong migratory connectivity has been found in the European populations which migrate on a broad front using different routes across the Mediterranean and Sahara: SW European breeders migrate to W Sahel (Senegal, Mauritania, W Mali), those from the Balkan Peninsula – chiefly to CE Sahel (Niger, Nigeria, Chad), whereas the Italian population spreads from E Mali to Nigeria (Sarà et al. 2019).

Autumn migration in tracked birds from SW Europe starts late Sep to late Oct, the wintering grounds in W Sahel are reached late Sep to early Nov. Spring migration starts early Feb to mid-Mar. Unlike autumn, on their way back the Strait of Gibraltar is mainly used (Catry et al. 2011, Limiñana et al. 2012).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Lesser Kestrel

After the breeding season pre-migratory movements take place, starting usually in late summer and sometimes – N from the breeding sites. At this time of the year, the species is known to form pre-migratory roosting concentrations (Sarà​ et al. 2014, Zhelev et al. 2016). Autumn migration itself takes place from late summer to mid-autumn.

Return migration is usually initiated in early spring and it could last until late spring.

The birds spend about 5.5-6 months in their wintering grounds. Those breeding in SE Europe take longest journeys, followed by the Italian breeders and the population from the Iberian Peninsula (Sarà et al. 2019).

Although the species is known to migrate generally on a broad front, differences between spring and autumn have been suggested locally: in Greece birds seem to migrate on a narrower front in autumn compared to spring (Bounas et al. 2016).

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
BirdLife International 2022 . Species factsheet: Falco naumanni. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 27/01/2022.
Bounas, A., Panuccio, M., Evangelidis, A., Sotiropoulos, K., Barboutis, C. 2016 . The migration of the Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni in Eastern Europe. Acrocephalus 37: 49–56
Catry, I., Dias, M.P., Catry, T., Afanasyev, V., Fox, J., Franco, A.M., Sutherland, W.J. 2011 . Individual variation in migratory movements and winter behaviour of Iberian Lesser Kestrels Falco naumanni revealed by geolocators. Ibis 153: 154–164
Limiñana, R., Romero, M., Mellone, U., Urios, V. 2012 . Mapping the migratory routes and wintering areas of Lesser Kestrels Falco naumanni: new insights from satellite telemetry. Ibis 154: 389–399
Orta, J. and G. M. Kirwan 2020 . Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.leskes1.01 ) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Sarà, M, Bondì, S, Bermejo, A, Bourgeois, M., Bouzin, M., Bustamante, J., de la Puente, J., Evangelidis, A., Frassanito, A., Fulco, E., Giglio, G., Gradev, G., Griggio, M., López-Ricaurte, L., Kordopatis, P., Marin, S., Martínez, J., Mascara, R., et al.2019 . Broad-front migration leads to strong migratory connectivity in the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni). J Biogeogr. 46: 2663–2677
Sarà, M., Campobello, D., Zanca, L., Massa, B. 2014 . Food for flight: pre-migratory dynamics of the Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni. Bird Study 61: 29–41
Zhelev, P., Gradev, G., Marin, S. 2016 . Radio-telemetry of Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) in the course of reinforcement of the species in Bulgaria. In: First national conference of reintroduction of conservation‐reliant species. Annual Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Faculty of Biology : 145–152

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