The kestrel is the bird of the year 2008

The Swiss Association for the protection of birds Opha/BirdLife has decreed the kestrel Bird of the year 2008. This falcon is on the list of potentially threatened birds, its food and nesting sites becoming scarce.

The hover, or “Flight of the St. Esprit”, is characteristic of the Kestrel Falcon, indicated the Opha. Flying on the spot, it stands above the field and searches the ground for rodents.

Photo of a Falcon Kestrel in flight “Saint-Esprit” (Photo by Louis L.)

Threats to the raptor in 2018

This particular hunting technique becomes more and more of a problem: in some places, it searches in vain for its food. In many agricultural areas, fallows, grassy strips, low hedges that shelter its prey as small mammals, amphibians, reptiles or large insects are lacking.

Another problem is the lack of nesting sites. The Kestrel Falcon likes to stand close to human habitation and it preferably uses building cornices, church steeples or nest boxes in barns.