Common name: Common Kestrel
Scientific name: Falco tinnunculus ssp. dacotiae
Status: The kestrel is the most abundant and easiest to see diurnal bird of prey in the Canary Islands. The dacotiae subspecies is exclusive to the eastern Canary Islands.
Habitat and distribution: It occupies all habitats, including the most urbanized, but is more frequent in open areas with crops and ravines.
How to recognize it: Small bird of prey with very fast flight. It gets its name in Spanish because when it hunts it hovers in stationary flight, almost motionless, between 10 and 20 meters above the ground, waiting to spot some prey, on which it swoops down.
Curiosities: Although it usually breeds in rocky holes and housing holes, it also makes its nests among the dry leaves of palm trees.
