• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Range map
• Climate Change maps
• Resources

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2013	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	116,000,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	106,000,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	4300000-6700000 mature individuals	poor	suspected	2021
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	5.31 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The European population is estimated at 411,000-631,000 pairs, which equates to 823,000-1,270,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International in prep.). Europe forms approximately 19% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 4,330,000-6,680,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed. It is therefore placed in the band 4,300,000-6,700,000 mature individuals.

Trend justification: In Europe the population size is estimated to be decreasing by less than 10% in 15.9 years (three generations [Bird et al. 2020]) (BirdLife International in prep.). In Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and northern Cameroon the species decreased by c.75% in all areas surveyed (both within and outside protected areas) between 1969-1973 and 2000-2004 (Thiollay 2007), equating to a decline of c.51% over three generations. However, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and northern Cameroon represent a small portion of the global range, and there is currently no evidence suggesting that the global rate of decline is approaching 30% over three generations.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native		yes
Albania	extant	native		yes
Algeria	extant	native
Andorra	extant	native	yes
Angola	extant	native
Armenia	extant	native	yes
Austria	extant	native	yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Bahrain	extant	native	yes			yes
Bangladesh	extant	native
Belarus	extant	native		yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Benin	extant	native
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Bhutan	extant	native		yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Botswana	extant	native
Brazil	extant	vagrant
Brunei	extant	vagrant
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes			yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native
Burundi	extant	native
Cambodia	extant	native
Cameroon	extant	native
Canada	extant	vagrant
Cape Verde	extant	native
Central African Republic	extant	native
Chad	extant	native
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Congo	extant	native
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cyprus	extant	native	yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes			yes
Djibouti	extant	native
Egypt	extant	native
Eritrea	extant	native
Estonia	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native
Ethiopia	extant	native
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native		yes
Finland	extant	native	yes			yes
France	extant	native	yes			yes
French Guiana	extant	vagrant
Gabon	extant	native
Gambia	extant	native
Georgia	extant	native		yes		yes
Germany	extant	native	yes			yes
Ghana	extant	native
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native	yes			yes
Greece	extant	native	yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Guam (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Guinea	extant	native
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native
Hungary	extant	native	yes
Iceland	extant	vagrant
India	extant	native		yes
Indonesia	extant	vagrant
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes			yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes
Israel	extant	native		yes
Italy	extant	native	yes			yes
Japan	extant	native		yes
Jordan	extant	native	yes			yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kenya	extant	native
Kuwait	extant	native	yes			yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Laos	extant	native
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native	yes			yes
Lesotho	extant	native
Liberia	extant	native
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	native	yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native	yes
Macao (China)	extant	native
Malawi	extant	native
Malaysia	extant	native
Maldives	extant	native
Mali	extant	native
Malta	extant	native	yes			yes
Martinique (to France)	extant	vagrant
Mauritania	extant	native
Moldova	extant	native	yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Morocco	extant	native
Mozambique	extant	native
Myanmar	extant	native
Namibia	extant	native
Nepal	extant	native		yes
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
Niger	extant	native
Nigeria	extant	native
North Korea	extant	native		yes
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Norway	extant	native		yes
Oman	extant	native	yes			yes
Pakistan	extant	native		yes
Palestine	extant	native
Philippines	extant	native
Poland	extant	native	yes			yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Qatar	extant	native			yes	yes
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native		yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Rwanda	extant	native
Saudi Arabia	extant	native	yes			yes
Senegal	extant	native
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Sierra Leone	extant	native
Singapore	extant	native
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native
South Africa	extant	native
South Korea	extant	native		yes
South Sudan	extant	native	yes		yes
Spain	extant	native	yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native		yes
Sudan	extant	native
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant
Sweden	extant	native	yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	native	yes			yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native
Tajikistan	extant	native		yes
Tanzania	extant	native
Thailand	extant	native
Togo	extant	native
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Uganda	extant	native
Ukraine	extant	native	yes			yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native	yes			yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes
USA	extant	vagrant
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes
Vietnam	extant	native		yes
Western Sahara	extant	native		yes
Yemen	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native
Zimbabwe	extant	native

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Bulgaria	Central Balkan
Bulgaria	Dobrostan
Bulgaria	Karlukovski Karst
Bulgaria	Pirin
Bulgaria	Vrachanski Balkan
Bulgaria	Western Balkan
Czechia	Krivoklatsko (Krivoklatsko region)
Czechia	Krkonose mountains (Giant mountains)
France	Plaine du Forez
Greece	Kythira island
Serbia	Danube loess bluffs
Serbia	Gornja Mostonga
Serbia	Juzni Banat
Serbia	Okanj I Rusanda
Serbia	Pašnjaci Velike Droplje
Serbia	Vrsacki ritovi
Spain	Famara sandy plain
Spain	Haría-Tabayesco
Spain	La Dehesa grasslands
Spain	Peninsula of Jandía
Switzerland	Augstmatthorn
Switzerland	Jura mountains of Baselland - Solothurn
Switzerland	Pre-alpine region of Gurnigel
Switzerland	Pre-alpine region of Pays d'Enhaut
Switzerland	Pre-alpine region of Schwyz
Switzerland	Upper Toggenburg and Säntis
Ukraine	Samars'kyj forest
Ukraine	Tarkhankuts'kyj peninsula

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	resident
Forest	Boreal	suitable	breeding
Forest	Temperate	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Grassland	Tundra	suitable	breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Sea Cliffs and Rocky Offshore Islands	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 3500 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 5500 m

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Energy production & mining	Renewable energy	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases - Accipiter gentilis	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Natural system modifications	Fire & fire suppression - Increase in fire frequency/intensity	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Pollution	Industrial & military effluents - Type Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	subsistence, national
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/common-kestrel-falco-tinnunculus on 24/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 24/01/2025.