TomKal foto

Lesser Kestrel Seeing on the outskirts of the city or over the largest lawns, a medium sized bird, which brooded in the air searching for food, you can be almost certain it is a Common of Lesser Kestrel. Despite the colour and the size differences Great Grey Shrikes also act the same. For a predator, Lesser Kestrel is quite small, it weighs around 200 grams with a wingspan of around 70 centimeters. That is why its menu consists of insects, small rodents and birds like Sparrows or Tits. More often it happens that the Lesser Kestrel's nests can be seen on church towers, town halls and in other urbanized areas. Unfortunately, population of Lesser Kestrels is extremely small in our country. Much commonly occuring is a slightly bigger Common Kestrel.
Last minute news – 04/2013
As I anticipated on the site, it will be constantly changing, old pictures will be replaced with new, better ones. Pictures in the Lesser Kestrel's gallery so far were, delicately speaking, documentary and eventually returned to the archives. Instead I have placed the pictures of Lesser Kestrel of completely different quality, which in their majority were taken by accident. When sitted in the bustard's watching spot on the left from the entrance I could see a wire fence running along to limit the sheep migration. On an endless meadows it is an interesting watching spot and the place to calmly consume the hunted insects. Lesser Kestrels are indeed very common in Spain. At least in the region I photgraphed them. It happened that when unveiling the blind I could see five of them on the fence at a same time. They are grateful object to photograph, though almost impossible to catch in flight. The only chance is to catch them when starting or landing. While writing about Lesser Kestrels take a look at an European Roller as it happened that both of the species had something in common. Lesser Kestrels brilliantly filled in the noon time when the bustards are visibly less active and sit in the meadows waiting for the temperature to fall. Meanwhile, Lesser Kestrels froze characteristically in the air searching for the prey, every once in a while raising bigger insects from the grass. Males wanting to show off their hunting skills and proptiate the females would bring them new insects. I saw a female who received couple of such gifts and would involuntarily look at the grass without “diving in”, just observing, without moving once from the fence she was sitting on. Pictures of Lesser Kestrels were also taken from a rooftop of a tall building which probably was a granary once. Even though the place was fit for it, and you could observe the Lesser Kestrels from a 3-6 metres distance, the best pictures were taken in the bustards' watching spot.
Last minute news-12/2017-Tanzania