Falco dickinsoni

Dickinson's Kestrel (Falco dickinsoni) is a bird of prey of southern and eastern Africa belonging to the falcon family Falconidae. It is named after John Dickinson, an English physician and missionary who collected the type specimen.
It is also known as the White-rumped Kestrel.
Its closest relatives are the Grey Kestrel and Banded Kestrel and the three
are sometimes placed in the subgenus Dissodectes.
It inhabits savanna and open woodland, particularly swampy areas near water.
It is typically associated with palm trees and is also often found near baobab trees.
It occurs in coconut plantations in some areas.
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.
The total range is about 3.4 million km2. It is generally rather scarce but is commoner in some areas such as Zanzibar and
Pemba Islands. Loss of palm trees is a potential threat to the species.

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Falco ardosiaceus

The Grey Kestrel (Falco ardosiaceus) is an African bird of prey belonging to the falcon family Falconidae.
Its closest relatives are the Banded Kestrel and Dickinson's
Kestrel and the three are sometimes placed in the subgenus Dissodectes.
It inhabits savannas, open woodland and forest clearings.
It favours areas with palm trees, especially near water.
It often perches on exposed branches, telegraph poles and wires.
It is widespread in West and Central Africa but is absent from densely forested regions including parts of the Congo Basin. Its range extends east to Ethiopia and western parts of Kenya and Tanzania.
In the south it reaches northern parts of Namibia and Zambia and vagrants have appeared in Malawi.
The total range covers about 12 million km². In West Africa there is some movement northward in the wet season and southward in the dry season.

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Falco naumanni photos

Falco naumanni photos

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Falco naumanni

The Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) is a small falcon.
This species breeds from the Mediterranean across southern central Asia to China and Bangladesh. It is a summer migrant, wintering in Africa and Pakistan.
It is rare north of its breeding range, and declining in its European range.
The scientific name of this bird commemorates the German naturalist Johann Andreas Naumann.
It is a small bird of prey, 27–33 cm in length with a 63–72 cm wingspan.
It looks very much like the larger Common Kestrel but has proportionally
shorter wings and tail. It shares a brown back and barred grey underparts with the larger species.
The male has a grey head and tail like male Common Kestrels, but lacks
the dark spotting on the back, the black malar stripe, and has grey patches in the wings.
The female and young birds are slightly paler than their relative, but are
so similar that call and structure are better guides than plumage.
The call is a diagnostic harsh chay-chay-chay, unlike the Common
Kestrel's kee-kee-kee. Both sexes do not have dark talons as usual in falcons; those of this species are a peculiar whitish-horn color.
This, however, is only conspicuous when seen birds at very close range, e.g. in captivity.

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