Falco tinnunculus

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About

Eurasian Kestrel perching on an antenna

The Eurasian Kestrel is a very swift falcon living in and near settlements. They are also called Tower Falcon (German: "Turmfalke") because they like to make a home on the outside of high brick buildings like chimneys and church steeples wherever they can find a small niche to place a nest in. They have also been seen nesting in windows of highrise buildings if the person living in the apartment behind that window doesn't disturb them. They are raptors who feed on mice, rats, small birds, big insects and reptiles. Eurasian Kestrels live not only in all of Europe and Asia but also spread over the whole of the African continent.

Sam says

Eurasian Kestrels have been trying to move into my district every single spring since 2019. As long as Corvus cornix x corone and Pica pica live here, they will be driven out yelling and screaming every single time. A few kilometers down, in the fields, they can be seen hunting critters all year long.

As soon as the young Apus apus (in my district) leave their nests, usually attached to apartment buildings right beneath the gutter, in late April, early June, and train for their big flight, kestrels like to bother them flying amongst and chasing them. I don't think, they are actually able to catch a Common Swift, but they sure act as if they could.

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