Africa Wild Bird Book

[nan]

181. Rock Kestrel Falco rupicolis (Kranvalk)
Order: Falconiformes. Family: Falconidae

The Rock Kestrel Falco rupicolus has recently been split from the Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus.



Description
Size 30-33 cm. A small raptor, which is mainly light chestnut brown with blackish spots on the upperside and buff with narrow blackish streaks on the underside. The male has fewer black spots and streaks, as well as a grey head and tail. The tail is brown with black bars in females, and has a black tip with a narrow white rim in both sexes. The cere, feet and a narrow ring around the eye are yellow, the bill and eye are dark.
Sexes alike except on the tail, where female has narrow dark bars that male lacks.
Juveniles look like adult females.
Similar species: This species differs from male Lesser Kestrel in having a spotted chestnut back and wings, lacking grey on the secondary coverts and in having the underwing spotted and barred (not silvery white). It differs from Greater Kestrel by its grey head, more rufus colour, smaller size, spotted (not barred) back, and more heavily marked underwing. Juvenile differs from female and juvenile Lesser Kestrels by being slimmer and darker below, especially on the underwing.

Distribution
It occurs from Angola, southern DRC and Tanzania south to southern Africa, where it is common in Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and central Mozambique.



Habitat
Diverse, but usually favouring open semi-arid and arid environments, such as grassland, Karoo and desert as well as urban centres; in the breeding season it usually stays in areas around cliffs, which it uses for breeding and roosting.

Movements and migrations
In the breeding season it generally stays in the south and west, but once finished it heads north-east to Botswana, Zimbabwe and north-eastern South Africa, probably due to an increase in rainfall and prey abundance.

Diet
It mainly eats small birds, lizards, mammals and arthropods, either hunting from a high perch or by hovering so that it can spot prey.

Breeding
Rock Kestrels are monogamous, territorial and usually solitary nesters, although a small quarry in the Western Cape is sometimes used by about 12 breeding pairs spaced approximately 30 m apart. In the breeding season it usually stays in areas around cliffs, which it uses for breeding and roosting. The nest is typically a simple scrape in a hole or crack, alternatively nesting on a ledge of a cliff, quarry, road cutting or building. It may also use the nest of another bird, such as crow or raven, placed on a cliff, tree or man-made structure such as a utility pole. Egg-laying season is from September-January, peaking from a August-October in the south-west and September-November in the south-east. The female lays between 1 to 6 reddish-cream eggs, which are mainly incubated by the female for between 26 to 32 days. The chicks are brooded and protected by the female while the male provides food for the whole family. The young leave the nest at about 30-36 days old, becoming fully independent up to about 42 days later.

Call
A high-pitched kik-kik-kik near the nest.

Status
Common resident with local movements, near-endemic.

[nan]

181. Rock Kestrel Falco rupicolis

© Mel
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, between Craig Lockhardt and Dalkeith

© nan
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

© Sharifa & Duke

© Sharifa & Duke

© PJL
Mountain Zebra National Park, Aug 2020

© puppy

© Dewi

© Michele Nel

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2
Global Raptor Information Network
Newman's birds of Southern Africa

[Dewi]

182. Greater Kestrel Falco rupicoloides (Grootrooivalk)
Order: Falconiformes. Family: Falconidae


Adult

Description
37 cm. Rufous brown above with black chequerboard markings. Paler below with fine black streaks. Tail is grey with black bars. White underwings in flight. Distinctive white eye is diagnostic. The bill is blue-grey; the legs and feet are yellow. The sexes are alike.
Juvenile has a rufous, barred tail, a dark eye and streaked (not barred) flanks.
Similar species: This kestrel is larger and paler brown than Rock Kestrel, and has a whitish underwing; it is distinguished from female Lesser Kestrel by its grey, barred tail, and the lack of moustachial stripes.

Distribution
Found in most of the sub-region in suitable habitat. Occurs in isolated patches of West Africa, with a separate population in Zambia, Angola and southern Africa. Within southern Africa it is fairly common across Namibia, Botswana and inland South Africa, scarce in Zimbabwe and largely absent from Mozambique.



Habitat
Dry, open grassland, savanna and deserts.

Diet
It usually hunts from a perch such as a tree, telephone pole or exposed rock, feeding mainly on grasshoppers, termites and other invertebrates, but also taking small birds, mammals and reptiles. Like the other kestrels, the Greater kestrel is able to hover as it surveys the terrain below for possible prey.

Breeding
Greater Kestrels are monogamous and will often nest in the old nests of crows or one of the other raptors, located on a telephone pole, in a tree or even on a man-made structure. Egg-laying season is from March-June, peaking from September-October. It lays 1-7 eggs, which are mainly incubated by the female for about 32-33 days. The chicks are brooded constantly for the first few days of their lives, after which brooding becomes more intermittent before stopping completely. The young are fed by both parents; the female catches insects around the nest while the male hunts larger prey further afield. They leave the nest at about 32-35 days old, becoming fully independent at least 26 days later.

Call
Shrill repeated kee-ker-rik or kwirr, kwirr during display.

Status
Locally common resident. Sedentary with local movements in response to rainfall. Usually found singly or in pairs.

[Dewi]

182. Greater Kestrel Falco rupicoloides (Grootrooivalk)

© PRWIN

© nan

© Duke


Juvenile


Juvenile in flight

© Michele Nel

© Michele Nel
Namibia, Orange River

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2
Global Raptor Information Network
Oiseaux net: http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-greater-kestrel.html

[Toko]

185. Dickinson's Kestrel Falco dickinsoni (Dickinsonse Grysvalk)
Order: Falconiformes. Family: Falconidae



Description
It is a fairly small, stocky kestrel with a large, square head. It is 27–30 cm long with a wingspan of 61–68 cm and a weight of 167–246 g. The plumage is mostly dark grey with a pale head and rump. The tail is grey with narrow black bars and a broad subterminal band. The underside of the flight feathers are also barred. The cere and feet are yellow and there is bare yellow skin around the eye. The bill is dark grey and the eyes are brown. Juvenile birds are grey-brown with barred flanks and without the paler head and rump. They have a greenish cere and eye-ring.
The female is about 4% larger and 10-20% heavier than the male.
Juveniles are very similar in appearance to mature adults, but with whitish barring on the lower flanks and thighs, blue-green not yellow cere and eye ring, and in some individuals, a browner tinge to the pelage, especially on the head.

Distribution
Its range covers most of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi along with north-eastern South Africa (mainly in Kruger National Park), northern Botswana, north-east Namibia, eastern Angola, southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and parts of Tanzania. It is an occasional visitor to Kenya. Within southern Africa it is uncommon in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northern Botswana and the Caprivi Strip (Namibia), marginally extending to the Limpopo Province and northern Namibia.



Habitat
It inhabits savanna and open woodland, particularly swampy areas near water. It is typically associated with palm trees (such as Hyphaene and Borassus species) and is also often found near baobab trees. It occurs in coconut plantations in some areas. It generally prefers low-lying tropical savanna, especially with flood plains containing Hyphaene and Borassus palms, as well as open Mopane (Colosphermum mopane) and miombo (Brachystegia) woodland.
It is usually encountered perched on a dead tree or other high vantage point where it sits motionless for long periods.

Diet
It usually hunts from a perch and only occasionally hovers. Large insects such as grasshoppers form the bulk of the diet. It also feeds on lizards and amphibians and sometimes birds, bats, rodents and snakes. It is often attracted to grass fires where it preys on fleeing insects and other prey.

Breeding
Monogamous, territorial solitary nester, although in Zambia nests can be spaced as close as 275 metres apart.
The nest is a simple scrape with no material used. It is sited 2 to 18 m above the ground in the crown of a dead palm or in a hole in a baobab. Sometimes the old nest of a Hamerkop is used. Egg-laying season is probably from late September to late October. One to four eggs are laid. They are cream-coloured with reddish-brown markings and are incubated by the female for at least 30 days, while the male delivers food to her. The young birds fledge after approximately 33 to 35 days.

Call
Strident keh-keh-keh and whistle-like kill-koo. It is usually silent but has a high-pitched alarm and contact call. At the nest, a soft, mewing call attracts the young for feeding.

Status
Uncommon, localised resident.

[Toko]

185. Dickinson's Kestrel Falco dickinsoni


Kruger National Park

© Dewi
Kruger National Park, around Punda Maria



Links:
Sabap2
Species Text Sabap1
James Ferguson-Lees, David A. Christie: Raptors of the World
http://books.google.de/books?id=yYqLZtf ... el&f=false

[Mel]

178. Red-necked Falcon Falco chicquera (Rooinekvalk)
Order: Falconiformes. Family: Falconidae

Red-necked Falcon Falco chicquera.jpg (54.4 KiB) Viewed 1442 times

Description
30-36 cm. A predominately blue-grey plumage, contrasts with black primary feathers, and a grey tail, with a white tip. Rufous cap and nape, dark brown moustachial stripes on white cheeks, white underparts and heavily barred belly with black banding across the abdomen.
Juveniles appear browner than adults with washed brown-rufous underparts, but with the same patterns. It has a dark brown head with two buff patches on the nape, pale rufous underparts finely barred with brown.

Red-necked Falcon.jpg (42.45 KiB) Viewed 1401 times

Distribution
It has isolated populations in both India and sub-Saharan Africa, absent from much of the DRC and West Africa. In southern Africa it is generally uncommon in patches of Namibia, Botswana, northern Zimbabwe, north-west South Africa (mainly in the northern Cape in the Kgalalgadi Transfrontiter Park) and central Mozambique. Two subspecies are recognized in southern Africa: F. c. horsbrughi in the arid west and Botswana, and F. c. ruficollis in Mozambique.



Habitat
Prefers palm savanna and floodplains, but is often seen near waterholes in arid habitats.

Diet
A specialist in hunting other bird species, it primarily preys on small birds, such as larks and sparrows, but will occasionally take larger prey, such as pigeons and waterbirds. Hunting from a sheltered perch at the edge of woodland, it targets its prey using acute eyesight, before exhausting the target in an acrobatic aerial pursuit. In flight, it uses rapid wing beats without undulations, soaring infrequently, and unlike other small, kestrel-like falcons, rarely hovers. It often hunts in pairs. The Gabar Goshawk may also take the role of the female, flushing prey so that the Red-necked Falcon can catch it, after which they both feed on the carcass; a unique partnership among falcons.

Breeding
Monogamous, territorial solitary nester, with a long pair bond. Like other falco species, the old nests of other raptors or crows in thorny trees are reused. Egg-laying season is from July-October, peaking from August-September. It lays 2-4 eggs which are incubated solely by the female for about 32-34 days, while the male delivers food to her at the nest. The chicks are brooded constantly by the female until they are 5-6 days old, at which point the female starts to help the male hunt for food. They leave the nest at 34-37 days old, becoming fully independent 1-3 months later. The incubation and nesting period of the red-necked falcon is around two weeks longer than that of similar falcons.

Call
A shrill ki-ki-ki-ki-ki during the breeding season.

Status
Uncommon resident.

[Mel]

178. Red-necked Falcon Falco chicquera

© Mel
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

© Michele Nel

© Mel
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

© Sharifa & Duke

© nan
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

© Sharifa & Duke

© Duke
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Kamfersboom

© Duke
Female, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Kamfersboom

Links:
Species text Sabap1: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/178.pdf
Sabap2
Global Raptor Information Network
Oiseaux net

[Toko]

179. Red-footed Falcon (formerly known as Western Red-footed Kestrel) Falco vespertinus (Westelike Rooipootvalk)
Order: Falconiformes. Family: Falconidae

Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus.jpg (62.43 KiB) Viewed 1444 times

Description
A medium-small, long-winged species. Red-footed Falcons are 28-34 cm in length with a wingspan of 65-75 cm.
The adult male appears overall dark. It is all blue-grey, with paler sometimes silvery primaries (especially noticeable from above), except for his red-orange cere, base of bill, eyering, red undertail and legs; its underwings are uniformly grey.
The female has a blue-grey back and wings (barred dark), orange buff head and underparts, and a white face with black eye stripe and short black moustaches.
Young birds are brown above and buff creamy below with dark streaks, and a face pattern like the female. Brown crown, whitish nape collar, upperparts sandy-brown (barred dark brown), tail shows grey and black bands. In flight a wide dark band on the trailing edge of the wings is visible.
Similar species: Chest­nut vent, orange-red eye-ring and legs separate it from other grey falcons. Darker cheeks than Amur Falcon and in flight easily separated by dark grey (not white) underwing coverts. Female differs from female Amurs Falcon in havaing a rufous crown and nape and buffy underparts. Immature Red-footed Falcon is more rufous than immature Amur Falcon. Juvenile might be confused with Eurasian Hobby but differs in having a pale crown, paler underparts and a much paler underwing with a dark trailing edge.

Distribution
It breeds in eastern Europe and west, central and north-central Asia. It winters in southern Africa, from South Africa northwards to southern Kenya. Within southern Africa it is locally uncommon to common in Botswana, northern Namibia, central Zimbabwe and the area in and around Gauteng, South Africa. The Red-footed Falcon is a widely distributed migrant, most abundant in Botswana and northern Namibia. The latter regions, along with southern Angola, are the main wintering areas.



Habitat
It generally prefers open habitats with scattered trees, such as open grassy woodland, wetlands, forest fringes and croplands, although it often roosts in stands of alien trees (especially Eucylaptus) in the suburbs of small towns.

Movements and migrations
Palearctic breeding migrant, departing from its Eurasian breeding grounds from August-September before the entire population heads to southern Africa and Angola, arriving around October-November and staying until April and May. It arrives in November or December in Kruger.

Diet
It mainly eats insects, especially termites, crickets and locusts, hunting from a low perch or from the air, diving to the ground and taking its prey, or hawking insects aerially. It may aggregate in large flocks at insect emergences, but otherwise it forages in loose flocks.

Breeding
This falcon is a colonial breeder. They nest in colonies of tens or thousands of pairs, occupying old nests of raptors and corvids (for example, rooks), cliff or tree holes, or nest on the ground protected by a shrub. Three to four eggs are normally laid, at intervals of two days, which are then incubated by both parents for 27 to 28 days. The chicks fledge 27 to 30 days after hatching and gain complete independence around one week later.

Call
Generally silent; noisy at communal roosts, giving kik-kik-kik calls. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common to rare summer visitor. Non-breading Palearctic migrant, locally common in north-west regions; most present Sept/Oct-Apr/May. Highly gregarious; undertakes local movements in response to rainfall and insect irruptions.

[Toko]

179. Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus

© Toko
Immature male

© nan
Female

© nan
Male

© Michele Nel
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, north of Polentswa - Feb 2013

Links:
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/179.pdf
Sabap2: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/spp_summary.ph ... &section=3
Newman's birds of Southern Africa
William S. Clark. A field guide to the raptors of Europe, The MIddle East and North Africa