Skip to content
Bioestrecho
Menu

Your portal

My list
Sign in

Species › Birds

Lesser Kestrel

Falco naumanni

Order
Falconiformes
Family
Falconidae
Presence in the Strait
Seasonal
Abundance
common
Protection in Spain
Special protection (List)
In Spanish
Cernícalo primilla

Photograph: Lip Kee, CC BY-SA, vía iNaturalist

Length
29–32 cm
Wingspan
58–72 cm
Weight
130–175 g
020406080LENGTH29–32 cmWINGSPAN58–72 cmcentimetres

Presence in the Strait

Common summer visitor to towns and villages (310 pairs in 1994), but numbers are falling rapidly. Some birds overwinter.

Identification

Small raptor that hovers. The male is easier to identify due to its plain red-brown mantle; head and wing-panel are bluish-grey. Females and juveniles are very similar to the Kestrel, but with less obvious moustachial-stripes, shorter tail in flight and paler underparts. Pale claws.

Movements

Migrant (>300 post. migr.) with peaks in 2nd hf. March and 2nd hf. September.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Gallery

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.