Lesser kestrel

Falco naumanni J. G. Fleischer, 1818

The lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae, subfamily Falconinae, within the order Falconiformes. It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 133 to 170 g (representative value 152.1 g) and a wingspan of 65 cm.

Photo: מינוזיג - MinoZig · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the lesser kestrel

This migratory invertivore lives in grassland habitat and has a geographic range of 9,561,000 km². It lays 4.2 eggs per clutch, one clutch per year, with an incubation period of 27.75 days, and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Weight: 133 g – 170 gsrc for Weight
Length: Not recorded
Wingspan: 65 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan: 6.2 years – 10.9 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: grasslandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 27.8 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 4.2src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 12 months – 17.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year: 1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle: Generalistsrc for Lifestyle
Migration: Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

How big is the lesser kestrel?

At 65 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the lesser kestrel is about 38% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the lesser kestrel

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) — Roger Culos · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the lesser kestrel live?

Not recorded

What is the lesser kestrel?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) is a small falcon. This species breeds from the Mediterranean across Afghanistan and Central Asia, to China and Mongolia. It is a summer migrant, wintering in Africa and Pakistan and sometimes even to India and Iraq. It is rare north of its breeding range, and declining in its European range. The genus name derives from Late Latin falx, falcis, a sickle, referencing the claws of the bird, and the species name commemorates the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Naumann.

From the Wikipedia article “Lesser kestrel” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lesser_kestrel&oldid=1325802332), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the lesser kestrel endangered?

The lesser kestrel is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the lesser kestrel classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderFalconiformes
familyFalconidae
genusFalco
SpeciesFalco naumanni J. G. Fleischer, 1818

Synonyms Cerchneis naumanni, Falco cenchris, Falco cenchris pekinensis, Falco cenchris var. pekinensis, Falco naumanni naumanni, Falco naumanni pekinensis, Falco tinnuncularius, Falco tinnuncularius, Falco xantonyx

Other names and names in other languages (87)

KleinrooivalkAfrikaans
KleinrooivalkieAfrikaans
عويسقArabic
العويسقArabic
عوسق صغيرArabic
Ciquilín de canaleraAragonese
peñerina pequeñaAsturian
Çöl muymuluAzerbaijani
Степна ветрушкаBulgarian
Белошипа ветрушкаBulgarian
Falc'hun ruzBreton
xoriguer petitCatalan
Шур чӗрнеллӗ якӑлпайChuvash
poštolka jižníCzech
cudyll coch bachWelsh
Cudyll coch lleiafWelsh
Lille TårnfalkDanish
RötelfalkeGerman
ΚιρκινέζιGreek
ruĝa falkoEsperanto
Malgranda turfalkoEsperanto
Cernicalo primillaSpanish
Cernícalo primillaSpanish
stepi-tuuletallajaEstonian
Neumann belatzBasque
MícalExtremaduran
دلیجه کوچکPersian
pikkutuulihaukkaFinnish
Rey?smyrilFaroese
reyðsmyrilFaroese
CrécerineFrench
CresserelletteFrench
Faucon crécerelletteFrench
Mionphocaire gaoitheIrish
Lagarteiro das torresGalician
Stannair ruy begManx
בז אדוםHebrew
bjelonokta vjetrušaCroatian
fehérkarmú vércseHungarian
Բազե հողմավար տափաստանայինArmenian
KliðfálkiIcelandic
GrillaioItalian
ヒメチョウゲンボウJapanese
ველის კირკიტაGeorgian
Дала күйкентайKazakh
Дала күйкентайыKazakh
흰발톱황조롱이Korean
Kakodikwn
stepinis pelėsakalisLithuanian
mazais piekūnsLatvian
Piekūns NaumanaLatvian
степска ветрушкаMacedonian
Степска (Белоноќна) ветрушкаMacedonian
ചെറുവിറയൻപുള്ള്Malayalam
Spanjulett SekondMaltese
Зээрд шонхорMongolian
Kleine TorenvalkDutch
raudfalkNorwegian Nynorsk
rødfalkNorwegian
pustułeczkaPolish
نکا کیسٹرلWestern Panjabi
francelhoPortuguese
francelho-das-torresPortuguese
peneireiro-das-torresPortuguese
Peneireiro-de-dorso-lisoPortuguese
Peneireiro-pequenoPortuguese
Crivel pitschenRomansh
Vânturel micRomanian
Степная пустельгаRussian
RuksesfálliNorthern Sami
sokol bielopazúravýSlovak
južna postovkaSlovenian
RukodziShona
SeotsanyanaSouthern Sotho
Skifteri kthetraverdhëAlbanian
Belonokta vetruškaSerbian
Belonokta vetruša - Белонокта ветрушкаSerbian
rödfalkSwedish
Kozi MdogoSwahili
เหยี่ยวเคสเตรลเล็กThai
Kızıl KerkenezTurkish
Küçük KerkenezTurkish
SeotsanyaneTswana
Хову шаңгырTuvinian
боривітер степовийUkrainian
黃爪隼Chinese
黄爪隼Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata WoRMS IUCN Red List

Relatives of the lesser kestrel

Other species in the same genus Falco.

Peregrine falcon

Falco peregrinus

Falconidae

Common kestrel

Falco tinnunculus

Falconidae

Eurasian hobby

Falco subbuteo

Falconidae

Merlin

Falco columbarius

Falconidae

Gyrfalcon

Falco rusticolus

Falconidae

Red-footed falcon

Falco vespertinus

Falconidae

CompareLesser kestrel vs Peregrine falcon Lesser kestrel vs Common kestrel Lesser kestrel vs Eurasian hobby Lesser kestrel vs Merlin

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the lesser kestrel?

The lesser kestrel is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae and the order Falconiformes.

How heavy is a lesser kestrel?

An adult lesser kestrel weighs from 133 to 170 g, with a representative value of 152.1 g. Its wingspan is 65 cm.

What does the lesser kestrel eat?

The lesser kestrel is an invertivore, placing it at the carnivore trophic level.

Is the lesser kestrel endangered?

No. The lesser kestrel is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

How long does a lesser kestrel live?

The lesser kestrel has a lifespan of 6.2 years, with values up to 10.92 years reported.

How many eggs does a lesser kestrel lay?

The lesser kestrel lays 4.2 eggs per clutch and has one clutch per year. Incubation lasts 27.75 days.

Does the lesser kestrel migrate?

Yes, the lesser kestrel is migratory. Its habitat is grassland.

Who named the lesser kestrel?

The lesser kestrel was named Falco naumanni by J. G. Fleischer, 1818.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-kestrel

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BibTeX

@misc{lesser_kestrel_2026,
  title = {Lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-kestrel},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}