The Kestrel

Another lovely winter visitor is the Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus

This is the Common Kestrel that we get  in hong kong, and this lovely bird is also the widespread small falcon you can see across Britain.

The Adult Male is more colourful one, with grey head, and reddish-brown back with black spots and a cleaner less barred tail. 

Key features: From a distance, its the blue-grey head that really stands out.

Wheres the Adult Female is a bit larger & browner, with a brown head (no grey)

All juveniles look very similar to females:

These are rare birds in Hong Kong, and is considered a scarce winter visitor and passage migrant, and certainly no id card of a resident. Look for them during winter, out near the border, at Mai Po Nature Reserve and Deep Bay. You may be lucky and spot a small falcon hovering over fields.

Hong Kong is near the southern edge of the kestrel’s broader East Asian winter range. Most kestrels winter further north in mainland China, so birds reaching Hong Kong are likely at the fringe of their normal distribution.

Numbers of kestrels declined in the 1970s, probably as a result of changes in farming and so it is included on the Amber List. They have adapted readily to man-made environments and can survive right in the centre of cities. They eat small mammals and birds, worms and insects.