El cernícalo común ( Falco tinnunculus ) es un ave de presa especies pertenecientes al cernícalo grupo del halcón familia falcónidos . También se le conoce como cernícalo europeo , cernícalo euroasiático o cernícalo del Viejo Mundo . En Gran Bretaña, donde no existe ninguna otra especie de cernícalo común, generalmente se le llama simplemente " cernícalo ". [2]
Cernícalo común | |
---|---|
Macho adulto de Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus | |
Hembra (♀) Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus del Santuario Tal Chhapar , Churu , Rajasthan , India | |
clasificación cientifica | |
Reino: | Animalia |
Filo: | Chordata |
Clase: | Aves |
Pedido: | Falconiformes |
Familia: | Falconidae |
Género: | Falco |
Especies: | F. tinnunculus |
Nombre binomial | |
Falco tinnunculus | |
Subespecie | |
Aproximadamente 10, ver texto | |
Mapa global de informes eBird de F. t. tinnunculus Rango todo el año Rango de verano Rango de invierno | |
Sinónimos | |
Falco rupicolus Daudin , 1800 (pero ver texto ) |
Esta especie se encuentra en una amplia gama. Está muy extendido en Europa , Asia y África , y ocasionalmente llega a la costa este de América del Norte . [3] Ha colonizado algunas islas oceánicas , pero los individuos vagabundos son generalmente raros; en toda Micronesia, por ejemplo, la especie solo se registró dos veces en Guam y Saipan en las Marianas . [4] [5] [6]
Descripción
Los cernícalos comunes miden 32 a 39 cm (13 a 15 pulgadas) de la cabeza a la cola, con una envergadura de 65 a 82 cm (26 a 32 pulgadas). Las hembras son notablemente más grandes, con el macho adulto pesando 136-252 g (4.8-8.9 oz), alrededor de 155 g (5.5 oz) en promedio; la hembra adulta pesa 154-314 g (5.4-11.1 oz), alrededor de 184 g (6.5 oz) en promedio. Por tanto, son pequeños en comparación con otras aves rapaces, pero más grandes que la mayoría de los pájaros cantores . Al igual que las otras especies de Falco , tienen alas largas y una cola larga distintiva. [4]
Su plumaje es principalmente castaño claro con manchas negruzcas en la parte superior y beige con estrechas rayas negruzcas en la parte inferior; las remiges también son negruzcas. A diferencia de la mayoría de las aves rapaces , muestran dimorfismo de color sexual y el macho tiene menos manchas y rayas negras, así como un sombrero y una cola de color gris azulado. La cola es de color marrón con barras negras en las hembras y tiene una punta negra con un borde blanco estrecho en ambos sexos. Todos los cernícalos comunes tienen una franja malar negra prominente como sus parientes más cercanos. [4]
La cereza , los pies y un anillo angosto alrededor del ojo son de color amarillo brillante; las uñas de los pies, el pico y el iris son oscuros. Los juveniles parecen hembras adultas, pero las rayas inferiores son más anchas; el amarillo de sus partes desnudas es más pálido. Las crías están cubiertas de plumas blancas , que cambian a una segunda capa de color gris ante antes de que crezcan su primer plumaje verdadero. [4]
Adult male F. t. tinnunculus landing
Young male F. t. tinnunculus during ringing
Female F. t. tinnunculus
F. t. tinnunculus at lake Neusiedl
F. t. tinnunculus
Male in the wildF. t. tinnunculus
Female in the wildHovering
tail feathers closedHovering
tail feathers spreadA pair mating in Ceredigion; May 2020
Skull
Comportamiento y ecología
In the cool-temperate parts of its range, the common kestrel migrates south in winter; otherwise it is sedentary, though juveniles may wander around in search for a good place to settle down as they become mature. It is a diurnal animal of the lowlands and prefers open habitat such as fields, heaths, shrubland and marshland. It does not require woodland to be present as long as there are alternative perching and nesting sites like rocks or buildings. It will thrive in treeless steppe where there are abundant herbaceous plants and shrubs to support a population of prey animals. The common kestrel readily adapts to human settlement, as long as sufficient swathes of vegetation are available, and may even be found in wetlands, moorlands and arid savanna. It is found from the sea to the lower mountain ranges, reaching up to 4,500 m (14,800 ft) ASL in the hottest tropical parts of its range but only to about 1,750 m (5,740 ft) in the subtropical climate of the Himalayan foothills.[4][7]
Globally, this species is not considered threatened by the IUCN.[1] Its stocks were affected by the indiscriminate use of organochlorines and other pesticides in the mid-20th century, but being something of an r-strategist able to multiply quickly under good conditions it was less affected than other birds of prey. The global population has been fluctuating considerably over the years but remains generally stable; it is roughly estimated at 1–2 million pairs or so, about 20% of which are found in Europe. There has been a recent decline in parts of Western Europe such as Ireland. Subspecies dacotiae is quite rare, numbering less than 1000 adult birds in 1990, when the ancient western Canarian subspecies canariensis numbered about ten times as many birds.[4]
Food and feeding
When hunting, the common kestrel characteristically hovers about 10–20 m (33–66 ft) above the ground, searching for prey, either by flying into the wind or by soaring using ridge lift. Like most birds of prey, common kestrels have keen eyesight enabling them to spot small prey from a distance. Once prey is sighted, the bird makes a short, steep dive toward the target. It can often be found hunting along the sides of roads and motorways. This species is able to see near ultraviolet light, allowing the birds to detect the urine trails around rodent burrows as they shine in an ultraviolet colour in the sunlight.[8] Another favourite (but less conspicuous) hunting technique is to perch a bit above the ground cover, surveying the area. When the bird spots prey animals moving by, it will pounce on them. They also prowl a patch of hunting ground in a ground-hugging flight, ambushing prey as they happen across it.[4]
Common kestrels eat almost exclusively mouse-sized mammals. Voles, shrews and true mice supply up to three-quarters or more of the biomass most individuals ingest. On oceanic islands (where mammals are often scarce), small birds (mainly passerines) may make up the bulk of its diet.[6] Elsewhere, birds are only an important food during a few weeks each summer when inexperienced fledglings abound. Other suitably sized vertebrates like bats, swifts,[9] frogs[citation needed] and lizards are eaten only on rare occasions. However, kestrels are more likely to prey on lizards in southern latitudes. In northern latitudes, the kestrel is found more often to deliver lizards to their nestlings during midday and also with increasing ambient temperature.[10] Seasonally, arthropods may be a main prey item. Generally, invertebrates like camel spiders and even earthworms, but mainly sizeable insects such as beetles, orthopterans and winged termites will be eaten.[4]
F. tinnunculus requires the equivalent of 4–8 voles a day, depending on energy expenditure (time of the year, amount of hovering, etc.). They have been known to catch several voles in succession and cache some for later consumption. An individual nestling consumes on average 4.2 g/h, equivalent to 67.8 g/d (3–4 voles per day).[11]
Reproduction
The common kestrel starts breeding in spring (or the start of the dry season in the tropics), i.e. April or May in temperate Eurasia and some time between August and December in the tropics and southern Africa. It is a cavity nester, preferring holes in cliffs, trees or buildings; in built-up areas, common kestrels will often nest on buildings, and will reuse the old nests of corvids. The diminutive subspecies dacotiae, the sarnicolo of the eastern Canary Islands is peculiar for nesting occasionally in the dried fronds below the top of palm trees, apparently coexisting with small songbirds which also make their home there.[12] In general, common kestrels will usually tolerate conspecifics nesting nearby, and sometimes a few dozen pairs may be found nesting in a loose colony.[4]
The clutch is normally 3–7 eggs; more eggs may be laid in total but some will be removed during the laying time. This lasts about 2 days per egg laid. The eggs are abundantly patterned with brown spots, from a wash that tinges the entire surface buffish white to large almost-black blotches. Incubation lasts from 4 weeks to one month, and only the female incubates the eggs. The male is responsible for providing her with food, and for some time after hatching this remains the same. Later, both parents share brooding and hunting duties until the young fledge, after 4–5 weeks. The family stays close together for a few weeks, during which time the young learn how to fend for themselves and hunt prey. The young become sexually mature the next breeding season.[4] Female kestrel chicks with blacker plumage have been found to have bolder personalities, indicating that even in juvenile birds plumage coloration can act as a status signal. [13]
Data from Britain shows nesting pairs bringing up about 2–3 chicks on average, though this includes a considerable rate of total brood failures; actually, few pairs that do manage to fledge offspring raise less than 3 or 4. Compared to their siblings, first-hatched chicks have greater survival and recruitment probability, thought to be due to the first-hatched chicks obtaining a higher body condition when in the nest.[14] Population cycles of prey, particularly voles, have a considerable influence on breeding success. Most common kestrels die before they reach 2 years of age; mortality up until the first birthday may be as high as 70%. At least females generally breed at one year of age;[15] possibly, some males take a year longer to maturity as they do in related species. The biological lifespan to death from senescence can be 16 years or more, however; one was recorded to have lived almost 24 years.[15]
Egg of common kestrel
Falco tinnunculus alexandri - MHNT
Hatchling of common kestrel (note white down)
Fledglings in nest cavity
Immature after fledging
Common kestrel nest
Evolución y sistemática
This species is part of a clade that contains the kestrel species with black malar stripes, a feature which apparently was not present in the most ancestral kestrels. They seem to have radiated in the Gelasian (Late Pliocene,[16] roughly 2.5–2 mya, probably starting in tropical East Africa, as indicated by mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data analysis and considerations of biogeography. The common kestrel's closest living relative is apparently the nankeen or Australian kestrel (F. cenchroides), which probably derived from ancestral common kestrels settling in Australia and adapting to local conditions less than one million years ago, during the Middle Pleistocene.[17]
The rock kestrel (F. rupicolus), previously considered a subspecies, is now treated as a distinct species.
The lesser kestrel (F. naumanni), which much resembles a small common kestrel with no black on the upperside except wing and tail tips, is probably not very closely related to the present species, and the American kestrel (F. sparverius) is apparently not a true kestrel at all.[17] Both species have much grey in their wings in males, which does not occur in the common kestrel or its close living relatives but does in almost all other falcons.
Subspecies
A number of subspecies of the common kestrel are known, though some are hardly distinct and may be invalid. Most of them differ little, and mainly in accordance with Bergmann's and Gloger's rules. Tropical African forms have less grey in the male plumage.[4]
- Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1758
- Temperate areas of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia north of the Hindu Kush- Himalaya mountain ranges to the NW Sea of Okhotsk region. Northern Asian populations migrate south in winter, apparently not crossing the Himalayas but diverting to the west.
- F. t. rufescens Swainson, 1837
- Sahel east to Ethiopia, southwards around Congo basin to S Tanzania and NE Angola.
- F. t. interstinctus McClelland, 1840
- Has dark heavily marked birds and has a foxed red phase but not reliably identified in the field. Breeds East Asia from Tibet to Korea and Japan, south into Indochina. Winters to the south of its breeding range, from northeastern India to the Philippines (where it is localized, e.g. from Mindanao only two records exist). [18][19]
- F. t. rupicolaeformis (C. L. Brehm, 1855)
- Arabian Peninsula except in the desert and across the Red Sea into Africa.
- F. t. neglectus Schlegel, 1873
- Northern Cape Verde Islands.
- F. t. canariensis (Koenig, 1890)
- Madeira and western Canary Islands. The more ancient Canaries subspecies.
- F. t. dacotiae Hartert, 1913 – Local name: cernícalo
- Eastern Canary Islands: Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Chinijo Archipelago. A more recently evolved subspecies than canariensis.
- F. t. objurgatus (Baker, 1929)
- Western, Nilgiris and Eastern Ghats of India; Sri Lanka. Heavily marked, has rufous thighs with dark grey head in males. [19][20]
- F. t. archerii (Hartert & Neumann, 1932)
- Somalia, coastal Kenya, and Socotra
- F. t. alexandri Bourne, 1955
- Southwestern Cape Verde Islands.
The common kestrels of Europe living during cold periods of the Quaternary glaciation differed slightly in size from the current population; they are sometimes referred to as the paleosubspecies F. t. atavus (see also Bergmann's rule). The remains of these birds, which presumably were the direct ancestors of the living F. t. tinnunculus (and perhaps other subspecies), are found throughout the then-unglaciated parts of Europe, from the Late Pliocene (ELMA Villanyian/ICS Piacenzian, MN16) about 3 million years ago to the Middle Pleistocene Saalian glaciation which ended about 130,000 years ago, when they finally gave way to birds indistinguishable from those living today. Some of the voles the Ice Age common kestrels ate—such as European pine voles (Microtus subterraneus)—were indistinguishable from those alive today. Other prey species of that time evolved more rapidly (like M. malei, the presumed ancestor of today's tundra vole M. oeconomus), while yet again others seem to have gone entirely extinct without leaving any living descendants—for example Pliomys lenki, which apparently fell victim to the Weichselian glaciation about 100,000 years ago.[21][22]
En cultura
The kestrel is sometimes seen, like other birds of prey, as a symbol of the power and vitality of nature. In "Into Battle" (1915), the war poet Julian Grenfell invokes the superhuman characteristics of the kestrel among several birds, when hoping for prowess in battle:
The kestrel hovering by day,
And the little owl that call at night,
Bid him be swift and keen as they,
As keen of ear, as swift of sight.
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) writes on the kestrel in his poem "The Windhover", exalting in their mastery of flight and their majesty in the sky.
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
A kestrel is also one of the main characters in The Animals of Farthing Wood.
Barry Hines’ novel A Kestrel for a Knave - together with the 1969 film based on it, Ken Loach's Kes - is about a working-class boy in England who befriends a kestrel.
The Pathan name for the kestrel, Bād Khurak, means "wind hover" and in Punjab it is called Larzānak or "little hoverer". It was once used as a decoy to capture other birds of prey in Persia and Arabia. It was also used to train greyhounds meant for hunting gazelles in parts of Arabia. Young greyhounds would be set after jerboa-rats which would also be distracted and forced to make twists and turns by the dives of a kestrel.[23]
Etymology
The name "kestrel" is derived from the French crécerelle which is diminutive for crécelle, which also referred to a bell used by lepers. The word is earlier spelt 'c/kastrel', and is evidenced from the 15th century.[24] The kestrel was once used to drive and keep away pigeons.[25] Archaic names for the kestrel include windhover and windfucker, due to its habit of beating the wind (hovering in air).[24]
The Late Latin falco derives from falx, falcis, a sickle, referencing the claws of the bird.[26] The species name tinnunculus is Latin for "kestrel" from "tinnulus", "shrill".[27]
Notas al pie
- ^ a b BirdLife International (2013). "Falco tinnunculus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ^ Mangoverde World Bird Guide 2009
- ^ "Common Kestrels | Beauty of Birds". www.beautyofbirds.com. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Orta 1994
- ^ Wiles et al. 2000
- ^ a b Wiles et al. 2004
- ^ Inskipp, Inskipp & Sherub 2000
- ^ Viitala et al. 1995
- ^ Mikula, Hromada & Tryjanowski 2013
- ^ Steen, Løw & Sonerud 2011a
- ^ Steen et al. 2011b
- ^ Álamo Tavío 1975
- ^ López‐Idiáquez, D.; Fargallo, J.A.; López‐Rull , I.; Martínez‐Padilla, J. (2019). "Plumage coloration and personality in early life: sexual differences in signalling". Ibis. 161 (1): 216–221. doi:10.1111/ibi.12665.
- ^ Martínez-Padilla, J.; Vergara, P.; Fargallo, J. A. (2017). "Increased lifetime reproductive success of first-hatched siblings in Common Kestrels Falco tinnunculus". Ibis. 159 (4): 803–811. doi:10.1111/ibi.12494.
- ^ a b AnAge 2010
- ^ Possibly to be reclassified as Early Pleistocene.
- ^ a b See Groombridge et al. 2002 for a thorough discussion of common kestrel and relatives' divergence times.
- ^ Peterson et al. 2008
- ^ a b Rasmussen & Anderton 2005
- ^ Whistler 1949, pp. 385–387
- ^ Mlíkovský 2002, pp. 222–223
- ^ Mourer-Chauviré et al. 2003
- ^ Phillott, D.C. (1832). "Note on the Common Kestril (Tinnunculus alaudarius)". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 2 (10): 527–528.
- ^ a b "kestrel". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Weekley 1921
- ^ Shorter Oxford English dictionary. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. 2007. p. 3804. ISBN 978-0199206872.
- ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 266, 386. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
Referencias
- Álamo Tavío, Manuel (1975). Asociación Canaria para Defensa de la Naturaleza (ed.). "Aves de Fuerteventura en peligro de extinción" [Birds of Fuerteventura threatened with extinction]. Aves y Plantas de Fuerteventura en Peligro de Extinción (in Spanish): 10–32.
- "Falco tinnunculus life history data". AnAge. 2010. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
- Groombridge, Jim J.; Jones, Carl G.; Bayes, Michelle K.; van Zyl, Anthony J.; Carrillo, José; Nichols, Richard A.; Bruford, Michael W. (2002). "A molecular phylogeny of African kestrels with reference to divergence across the Indian Ocean" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 25 (2): 267–277. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00254-3. PMID 12414309. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-14.
- Inskipp, Carol; Inskipp, Tim; Sherub (2000). "The ornithological importance of Thrumshingla National Park, Bhutan" (PDF). Forktail. 14: 147–162. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-10. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
- "Eurasian Kestrel Falco tinnunculus". mangoverde.com. Mangoverde World Bird Guide (MWBG). 2009. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
- Mikula, P.; Hromada, M.; Tryjanowski, P. (2013). "Bats and Swifts as food of the European Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) in a small town, in Slovakia" (PDF). Ornis Fennica. 3: 178–185. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-12-03. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
- Mlíkovský, Jiří (2002). Cenozoic Birds of the World (Part 1: Europe) (PDF). Prague: Ninox Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2018-12-12.ISBN 80-901105-3-8
- Mourer-Chauviré, C.; Philippe, M.; Quinif, Y.; Chaline, J.; Debard, E.; Guérin, C.; Hugueney, M. (2003). "Position of the palaeontological site Aven I des Abîmes de La Fage, at Noailles (Corrèze, France), in the European Pleistocene chronology". Boreas. 32 (3): 521–531. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3885.2003.tb01232.x.
- Orta, Jaume (1994). del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew; Sargatal, Jordi (eds.). Common Kestrel. Handbook of Birds of the World. Volume 2 (New World vultures to Guineafowl). Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. pp. 259–260, plates 26. ISBN 978-84-87334-15-3.
|volume=
has extra text (help) - Peterson, A. Townsend; Brooks, Thomas; Gamauf, Anita; Gonzalez, Juan Carlos T.; Mallari, Neil Aldrin D.; Dutson, Guy; Bush, Sarah E.; Fernandez, Renato (2008). "The Avifauna of Mt. Kitanglad, Bukidnon Province, Mindanao, Philippines" (PDF). Fieldiana Zoology. New Series. 114: 1–43. doi:10.3158/0015-0754(2008)114[1:TAOMKB]2.0.CO;2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
- Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Anderton, John C. (2005). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Volume 2. Washington DC and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. pp. 112–113.
|volume=
has extra text (help) - Steen, R.; Løw, L.M.; Sonerud, T. (2011a). "Delivery of Common Lizards (Zootoca Lacerta vivipara) to nests of Eurasian Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) determined by solar height and ambient temperature". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 89 (3): 199–205. doi:10.1139/z10-109. S2CID 67822269.
- Steen, R.; Løw, L.M.; Sonerud, G.A.; Selås, V.; Slagsvold, T. (2011b). "Prey delivery rates as estimates of prey consumption by Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)". Ardea. 99: 1–8. doi:10.5253/078.099.0101. S2CID 84472078.
- Swann, H. Kirke (1913). A dictionary of English and Folk-names of British Birds. London: Witherby and Co. p. 134.
- Viitala, Jussi; Korpimäki, Erkki; Palokangas, Päivi; Koivula, Minna (1995). "Attraction of kestrels to vole scent marks visible in ultraviolet light". Nature. 373 (6513): 425–427. Bibcode:1995Natur.373..425V. doi:10.1038/373425a0. S2CID 4356193.
- Weekley, Ernest (1921). An etymological dictionary of modern English. London: John Murray. p. 801.
- Whistler, Hugh (1949). Popular handbook of Indian birds (4th ed.). London: Gurney and Jackson.
- Wiles, Gary J.; Worthington, David J.; Beck, Robert E. Jr.; Pratt, H. Douglas; Aguon, Celestino F.; Pyle, Robert L. (2000). "Noteworthy bird records for Micronesia, with a summary of raptor sightings in the Mariana Islands, 1988-1999". Micronesica. 32 (2): 257–284. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.393.1140.
- Wiles, Gary J.; Johnson, Nathan C.; de Cruz, Justine B.; Dutson, Guy; Camacho, Vicente A.; Kepler, Angela Kay; Vice, Daniel S.; Garrett, Kimball L.; Kessler, Curt C.; Pratt, H. Douglas (2004). "New and Noteworthy Bird Records for Micronesia, 1986–2003". Micronesica. 37 (1): 69–96.
enlaces externos
- Rock kestrel species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
- Common kestrel media from ARKive
- "Common kestrel". Avibase.
- Common kestrel page at Israel Birding Portal
- Kestrel Bird Guide at The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
- Text of the Hopkins poem mentioned in the article
- Kestrel on-line 2013: Brest, Belarus
- Kestrel on-line 2012: Groningen, The Netherlands
- Live Streaming of common kestrel nest in Amadora, Portugal
- Ageing and sexing (PDF; 5.5 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
- Feathers of common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) Archived 2013-11-03 at the Wayback Machine
- "Common kestrel media". Internet Bird Collection.
- Eurasian kestrel photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- Interactive range map of Falco tinnunculus at IUCN Red List maps