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The lesser kestrel ( Falco naumanni) is a small falcon. This species breeds from the Mediterranean across Afghanistan and Central Asia, to China and Mongolia. It is a summer bird migration, wintering in Africa and Pakistan and sometimes even to India and Iraq. It is rare north of its breeding range, and declining in its European range. The genus name derives from Late Latin falx, falcis, a sickle, referencing the claws of the bird, (2025). 9780199206872, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199206872 and the species name commemorates the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Naumann.
The female and young birds are slightly paler than their relative, but are so similar that call and structure are better guides than plumage. The call is a diagnostic harsh chay-chay-chay, unlike the common kestrel's kee-kee-kee. Neither sex has dark Claw as is usual in falcons; those of this species are an unusual whitish-horn colour. This is however only conspicuous when birds are seen at very close range.
Although currently considered monotypic taxon with no subspecies, a range-wide investigation published in 2025 revealed a deep genetic divide between a southwestern population and a northeastern population, divided by the Caucasus Mountains; the two populations differ markedly in adaptation and ecology, and show only very limited intergradation. The two populations also winter separately, with the southwestern wintering in the Sahel region of tropical northern Africa from Senegal east to Sudan, and the northeastern wintering from Ethiopia south to South Africa.
The lesser kestrel eats , but also small birds, reptiles and rodents (especially mice), which are often taken on the ground. It nests colonially on buildings, cliffs, or in tree holes, laying up to 3–6 eggs. No nest structure is built, which is typical for falcons. On their wintering grounds in West Africa, lesser kestrels favour a "latitude belt" through Senegal where locusts and grasshoppers are plentiful. Surveys of lesser kestrels wintering in January 2007 by the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux revealed them roosting communally. A roost in Senegal discovered during one of the surveys held 28,600 birds, together with 16,000 scissor-tailed kites Chelictinia riocourii.
It is widespread and plentiful on a global scale, and the IUCN have classed it as Least Concern. Apart from possible habitat destruction, it appears that indiscriminate use of has a strong effect on this species due to its insectivorous habits.
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