Guest writer Simon Thomsett has dedicated his life to protecting Africa's birds of prey. This month, he will be one of many specialists presenting in our Winged Warriors Series, exploring The Power and Beauty of Birds of Prey.
The Fastest Fliers on Earth : Falcons and Kestrels of Africa
They may not be eagle sized but they have, from the very beginnings of civilisation, captured the imagination of man. Falconers have perfected hunting with skills that are handed down through generations, aircraft engineers have studied their flight and one falcon was even given God status. The Egyptian Sun God Horus is the oldest venerated raptor on Earth, adopted later as a Greek God. The fine representations of Horus in hieroglyphics, murals and sculpture show him to be a Barbary Falcon.
Africa then, has led the world in exalting Falcons.
We are home to some 12 falcons and 11 small falcons and kestrels. Ranging in size from the tiny pygmy Falcon to the medium size Saker Falcon, some are powerful enough to catch large pigeons and even guinea fowl and hares.
Falcons differ greatly from hawks, buzzards and eagles (fellow birds of prey) and recent DNA work places them closer to parrots! They all share long pointed wings, medium to short tails, bare legs, short bills with a tooth-like notch, round nostrils, liquid brown eyes and a neat moustachial stripe, rather like a cheetah’s tear stripe.
Some falcons such as the Peregrine, Barbary and Taita Falcon are contenders for the fastest animals on Earth, reaching speeds of some 270 mph or 437 km per hour.
The Eurasian hobby. Image: Simon Thomsett and Laila Bahaa-el-din
The diminutive Merlin only just wanders into North Africa from Europe and Asia. The Rock Kestrel is now separated as a species and occurs in only Southern Africa. The Dickinson's kestrel is known from a few records in Kenya, some of which are dubious.
The kestrels are usually defined by being small (dove sized), comparatively long tailed birds with a reddish plumage. They hover and prey on mostly insects and rodents.
But Africa has some old kestrels such as the stocky Grey Kestrel and the aforesaid Dickinson's kestrel that do not fit the profile at all.
The Grey Kestrel in particular, is a fast and adaptable hunter, taking mostly insects and lizards, but when required it can fly down birds, as would a Merlin.
The large Greater Kestrel and Fox Kestrel are more powerful. Other than their pale eyes (as adults) they are clearly kestrels. The Greater Kestrel prefers the flat open plains and grasslands and will use the nests of Cape Rooks to breed. The Fox Kestrel utilizes potholes in cliff faces in the arid north of Kenya.
The mountain kestrel is Kenya’s typical Kestrel, the one that most resembles the common kestrel of Eurasia. But it is only a cliff nester in Kenya and, unlike kestrels worldwide, in Kenya it is quite uncommon. It is found only on rough, rocky cliffs in arid lands, sometimes of an unimpressive height. It is a wonderfully cheeky little Falcon, always querulous, and making a theatrical fuss over Intruders. It is seldom alone and often busy with feeding its chicks. Just why it is so uncommon may be explained by competition with much larger falcons on cliff faces.
The lesser Kestrel visits Kenya in flocks of thousands, outnumbering all our resident raptors while it feeds on the produce of recent rains. If conditions suit them, they will stay, but if thunderclouds beckon them to move on, many will go as far as South Africa before returning to Spain and Europe to breed. Among them will be seen the Common kestrel, the Eurasian Hobby, the Sooty and Eleonora's Falcon, and sometimes in very large numbers the Amur Falcon. The much rarer Red-footed Falcon only occasionally makes an appearance.
This deluge of small falcons racing about the sky usually occurs with falling rain when flying ants leave the Earth. To stand in the rain and to see literally thousands of falcons feasting overhead, that have appeared from nowhere, and will vanish the next day, is one of the most memorable spectacles conceivable. It also instils of vast sense of responsibility in us, for all that is needed to kill off most of Eurasia’s small falcons, is one careless application of lethal pesticides.
The Sooty Falcon and its near cousin, the Eleonora's Falcon, stand out as larger and more rapacious Falcons. On occasion they will depart from feeding on flying ants and take birds as large as larks and small doves.
Small resident falcons in Kenya are the African hobby and Red-necked Falcon.
The African hobby is very rare and concern for this should include those wider habitat changes that have affected most of Kenya's landscapes. But this is not always the case, as the African Hobby is often encountered in human-dominated landscapes and will use nests built by crows in tall gum trees.
A Red Necked Falcon. Image: Simon Thomsett and Laila Bahaa-el-din
The Red-necked Falcon is a little mighty Mouse of a Falcon. It is also almost ludicrously saturated with contrasting colours of the rainbow. It's pale blue-back, bright red head, pure white chest with big black bars and shocking yellow cere and feet make it one of the most highly coloured raptors in the world. Despite its gaudy appearance it is a gusty hunter of small and even medium-sized Birds. It has massive chest muscles that throw it across the sky. It has rather short wings and a long tail for a falcon, which implies that it is very manoeuvrable. It can climb at a 45-degree angle straight up into the sky after very high-flying birds and pursue them to Earth. It nests mostly in the now endangered borassus Palms but can also breed in Doum Palms and even coconut palms.
The large falcons comprise of the cliff nesting Lanner Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Barbary Falcon and surprisingly the pint-size Taita Falcon. The migrant race of the large Russian Peregrine and the migrant Saker Falcon, are much larger than our falcons, and may sometimes be seen taking shorebirds and waterbirds far from any cliff face.
The beautiful Lanner Falcon is the most commonly seen large Falcon. The adults have a blue-black, light red cap and salmon pink belly. They are impressive flyers, swooping vertically down and instantly killing birds as large as themselves with an audible crack.
The African peregrine is less likely to be seen as it prefers to remain near its cliff locations. The global distribution of the Peregrine makes it familiar to everyone, and all those who know it, know of its sensitivity to pesticides.
In Nairobi the Peregrine, as it does in USA and Europe, nests in cities on the side of skyscrapers. But it is most at home on those monumental cliff faces of the Great Rift Valleys mountains, escarpments and canyons.
The Barbary Falcon is a desert adapted peregrine and while rare, and of uncertain breeding status in Kenya, it appears to be encountered more often than previously in northern Kenya and Tsavo.
Just why the small Taita falcon is given honorary membership of the large Falcon clan is obvious at first sight. It is a Peregrine/Barbary Falcon type, in that it looks and behaves like them. It prefers cliff faces of quality with commanding views. It has a huge barrel of a chest, hard stumpy wings and a short tail. When it flies, it clips through the sky in a characteristic manner that is subtly different to other falcons. It can take Swift's easily, but prefers small birds and can utilise near-vertical ascents, as well as devastating stoops.
It is inexplicably rare. The first one recorded was taken near the Taita hills in Kenya, and while it first sported the name Kilimanjaro Falcon it later became known as the Taita Falcon. It has a patchy distribution from Ethiopia to Zambezi and just into South Africa.
A Pigmy Falcon. Image: Simon Thomsett and Laila Bahaa-el-din
The most endearing of falcons is perhaps the pygmy Falcon. This starling sized fluff-ball has all the habits of a falcon. It bob's its head when it sees something it wants, it chatters, as would a small falcon, if speeded-up, it fluffs up its chin feathers as does a Peregrine, and it does wing stretches in very much the same way.
It is also a tough customer, hurling itself occasionally upon birds almost its own size. More often it takes insects and lizards and because it is so small it is constantly having to fill its belly.
They occur in the arid Acacia savannahs of East and Southern Africa and avoid the equatorial belt in between. The Kenyan race is found in Samburu and Tsavo where it occupies the empty nests of the buffalo Weaver. While it may look different to the typical Falcon it does share all but the aforementioned moustache. Its flight profile is best captured by a fast shutter speed where it's long sharp tipped wings and medium length tail become apparent.
Kenya has the world's largest collection of Falcon species found anywhere. This richness is owed to its diversity of habitats from snow-capped mountains to forest, savannas, deserts and ocean. It is annually visited by a fair percentage of the entire Eurasian population of smaller Falcons.
This diversity is responsibility. As a nation we must recognise our wealth and accept that me we must be stewards to some of the finest creatures on Earth. Increasingly we see poor use of land, increased persecution and persistent misuse of pesticides that must stop if we are to keep these magnificent species.
Africa was after all the first to exalt falcons and to export this veneration to the Western world.