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Seychelles Kestrel
 
 
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The Seychelles Kestrel (Falco araea) is a small bird of prey
Bird of prey

Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. Their claws and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
 belonging to the genus Falco
Falco

Falco may refer to:...
 in the falcon
Falcon

A falcon is any species of bird of prey in the genus Falco. The word comes from their Latin name falco, related to Latin falx because of the shape of these birds' wings....
 family, Falconidae. It is endemic to the Seychelles
Seychelles

Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an archipelago Country of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
 Islands where it is the only breeding bird of prey. It is known in Seychellois Creole
Seychellois Creole

Seychellois Creole, also known as Kreol or Seselwa, is the French-based creole language of the Seychelles. It shares official language status with English language and French language ....
 as the Katiti after its loud, shrill call.

s the smallest of the kestrel
Kestrel

The name kestrel is given to several different members of the falcon genus, Falco. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour which is to hover at a height of around 10?20 m over open country and swoop down on prey, usually small mammals, lizards or large insects....
s, 18-23 cm long with a wingspan of 40-45 cm. The wings are fairly short and rounded.






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The Seychelles Kestrel (Falco araea) is a small bird of prey
Bird of prey

Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. Their claws and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
 belonging to the genus Falco
Falco

Falco may refer to:...
 in the falcon
Falcon

A falcon is any species of bird of prey in the genus Falco. The word comes from their Latin name falco, related to Latin falx because of the shape of these birds' wings....
 family, Falconidae. It is endemic to the Seychelles
Seychelles

Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an archipelago Country of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
 Islands where it is the only breeding bird of prey. It is known in Seychellois Creole
Seychellois Creole

Seychellois Creole, also known as Kreol or Seselwa, is the French-based creole language of the Seychelles. It shares official language status with English language and French language ....
 as the Katiti after its loud, shrill call.

Description

It is the smallest of the kestrel
Kestrel

The name kestrel is given to several different members of the falcon genus, Falco. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour which is to hover at a height of around 10?20 m over open country and swoop down on prey, usually small mammals, lizards or large insects....
s, 18-23 cm long with a wingspan of 40-45 cm. The wings are fairly short and rounded. The adult male's upperparts are reddish brown with black spots while the underparts are unspotted and buff. The head and rump are dark blue-grey. The tail is blue-grey with black bars. The bill is dark and the feet and cere
Cère

The C?re is a long river in south-western France, left tributary of the Dordogne River. Its source is in the south-western Massif Central, near the mountain Plomb du Cantal....
 are yellow. Females are similar to the males in appearance but are a little larger and paler. Immature birds have a brown, streaked head, spots on the breast and a buff tip to the tail.

Ecology

It can be seen in forest, scrub and farmland and around rock faces and houses. It rarely hovers, instead feeding by sitting on an exposed perch and waiting for prey to pass, then swooping down to catch it. Lizard
Lizard

Lizards are a large and widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 5,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains....
s, particularly green day geckos (Phelsuma
Phelsuma

Day Geckos are small lizards of the genus Phelsuma in the gecko family....
) and skinks (Mabuya
Mabuya

Mabuya is a genus of long-tailed skinks, found through Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Americas. They are primarily carnivorous, though many are omnivorous....
), make up 92% of its diet and it will also take small birds, frog
Frog

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . The name frog derives from Old English language frogga, , cognate with Sanskrit plava , probably deriving from Proto-Indo-European language praw = "to jump"....
s, rat
Rat

Rats are various medium sized, long-tailed rodents of the Family Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus....
s and insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s.

The breeding territory covers just 40 hectares, the smallest of any bird of prey. Breeding occurs from August to October. The nest
Nest

A nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's Egg s and/or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some life material such as twigs, grass, and leaf; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building....
 site is on a cliff, tree or building. It is a simple scrape with no nest material used. Two or three eggs
Egg (biology)

In most birds and reptiles, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo....
 are laid; they are white with brown markings and are incubated
Avian incubation

Incubation is the process by which birds hatch their Egg , and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period....
 for 28-31 days. The young birds fledge
Fledge

Fledge is the stage in a young bird's life when the feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight. It also describes the act of raising chicks to a fully grown state by the chick's parents....
 after 35-42 days and then remain with their parents for another 14 weeks.

Conservation

The species has a population of about 800 birds and is classified as Vulnerable
Vulnerable species

A vulnerable species is a species which is likely to become Endangered species unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve....
. Lowland nests have a high failure rate of about 70-80%. It probably bred throughout the granitic central Seychelles in the past but is currently known to breed only on Mahé
Mahé, Seychelles

Mah? is the largest island of the Seychelles, lying in the north east of the nation. The population of Mah? is 80,000. It contains the capital city of Victoria, Seychelles and accommodates 90% of the country's total population....
, Silhouette
Silhouette Island

Silhouette Island lies 20 km northwest of Mah?, Seychelles in the Seychelles. It is the third largest island in the Seychelles. It has an area of 20 km? and has a population of 135, mostly workers on the island....
, North Island
North Island, Seychelles

North Island is a small granitic island in the Seychelles that is 5 km north of Silhouette Island. Recently it has been developed as a private resort with 11 villas for guests....
, Praslin
Praslin

Praslin is the second largest island of the Seychelles, lying 44 km north east of Mah?, Seychelles. Praslin has a population of around 6,500 people and comprises two administrative districts; Baie Sainte Anne and Grand' Anse ....
 and some small adjacent islands. It was reintroduced
Reintroduction

Reintroduction is the deliberate release of species into the wild, from captive breeding or relocated from other areas where the species survives....
 to Praslin in 1977.

Threats are thought to include habitat loss due to logging
Logging

Logging is the process in which certain trees are cut down for forest management and timber....
, housing development and fires as well as predation and competition by introduced species
Introduced species

A species is defined as introduced in a certain geographical area, if that area is outside the species' indigenous distributional range, and the species has arrived there by human activity....
. Rats, cat
Cat

The cat , also known as the Domestication cat or house cat to distinguish it from other Felinae and Felidae, is a small predationy carnivore species of crepuscular mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and its ability to hunt vermin, snakes, scorpions, and other unwanted household pests....
s and Barn Owl
Barn Owl

?:The city in Russia is spelled Barnaul.The Barn Owl is the most Cosmopolitan distribution species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds....
s have reduced the lizard population on which the kestrels depend and they may take eggs and chicks. Barn Owls and Common Myna
Common Myna

The Common Myna or Indian Myna also sometimes spelled Mynah, is a member of the starling family. It is a species of bird native to Asia with its initial home range spanning from Iran, India and Kazakhstan to Malaysia and China....
s have occupied many suitable nest sites.

Persecution by humans is now rare. In the past, kestrels were killed because they were thought to take chicken
Chicken

The chicken is a Domestication fowl. Recent evidence suggests that domestication of the chicken was under way in Vietnam over 10,000 years ago....
s and because they were considered to be a omen
Omen

An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. Omens may be considered "good" or "bad", but the term is more often used in a foreboding sense, as with the word "ominous"....
 of death.

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