Falco tinnunculus

Order: Falcon-like (Falconiformes)

Family: Hawks (Falconidae)

Size: 34 – 36 cm

Span: ca. 75 cm

Weight: 130 – 230 g

The Kestrel, also known as the Shaking-falcon, is – with the buzzard – the most common domestic bird of prey. They are not endangered and are one of a few species of birds of prey, whose sex can be recognized by the plumage. While the females are uniformly coloured brown with black spots, the males as they increase in age start getting a grey head and tail. Kestrels feed mainly on mice and small insects. You can see them when you go for a drive in your car. You can usually see them hovering over fields in the air as they beat wildly with their wings with eyes on a mouse hole. At the right moment they fold their wings together and dive in on the prey.