Nankeen Kestrel Australia - The Wild Continent
Photo by Michael Morcombe
Australian or Nankeen Kestrel, Falco cenchroides, is one of the smallest falcons, and unlike many, does not rely on speed to catch its prey. This bird is apparently a very close relative of the Common Kestrel, and probably also the Spotted Kestrel; it seems to have evolved of ancestral Common Kestrels dispersing to the Australian region in the Middle Pleistocene - less than 1 million years ago - and adapting to local conditions