Lesser Kestrel

The lesser kestrel is a small falcon, 27–33 cm long with a wingspan of 63–72 cm. It looks much like the larger common kestrel but has proportionally shorter wings and tail. The male has a grey head and tail, but lacks the dark spotting on the back and the black malar stripe, and has grey patches in the wings. The call is a diagnostic harsh chay-chay-chay, unlike the common kestrel's kee-kee-kee, which with structure is a better guide than plumage (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a summer migrant, breeding from the Mediterranean across Afghanistan and Central Asia to China and Mongolia, and wintering in Africa and Pakistan and sometimes in India and Iraq. It nests colonially on buildings, cliffs or in tree holes, building no nest structure, and lays three to six eggs. It is declining in its European range. SoIB 2023 lists it as a passage migrant of grassland that eats invertebrates, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).