Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2026 | 18(7): 29357–29359
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9764.18.7.29357-29359
#9764 | Received 20 March 2025 | Final received 27 October 2025| Finally
accepted 02 July 2026
Decline in winter visiting Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus
(Falconiformes: Falconidae)
at Rani, Assam 2011–2024
Vulture Conservation Breeding
Center, Rani, Kamrup, Assam 781131, India.
Editor: H. Byju,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Date of publication: 26 July 2026
(online & print)
Citation:
Ranade, S. (2026). Decline in winter visiting Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus (Falconiformes: Falconidae) at Rani, Assam 2011–2024. Journal of Threatened Taxa 18(7): 29357–29359. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9764.18.7.29357-29359
Copyright: © Ranade 2026. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The author declares no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The author is thankful to the Bombay Natural History Society for constant support.
The species was recorded in the Rani block (26.127560
N, 91.594640 E), Kamrup District,
Assam (Image 1). From July to November, the Rani landscape has paddy fields,
and after harvest, it becomes a vast open land as a second crop is rarely
cultivated (Image 2). The pesticide use is moderate, and the use of tractors
over bullocks for ploughing is increasing. The fields are bordered by tall trees,
bamboo clumps, beetle nut orchards, and single-storeyed houses. The Common Kestrel takes advantage of
electrical poles in the field for perch and from there it pounces on the prey.
It has been noted hovering over the harvested fields, for hunting mice,
lizards, and insects. Common Kestrels were monitored during the winter season
(November–February). The observations were recorded for 14 winter seasons from
2011–12 to 2024–25 (Table 1), on a 5-km road while slowly driving from Bongra–Rani and Jogipara–Rani.
The data consisted of 15 transects per month, for 56 months (n = 840) (Archana
et al 2024). The species encounter rate was calculated season-wise as: (number
of sightings per season) / (transect length (5 km) x number of transects in the
season (n = 60)). Out of 422 sightings, on 388 occasions the individuals were
sighted singly, while on 34 occasions they were sighted as a pair. The
encounter rate was plotted against the time period and showed a decline from
2020 onwards (Image 3). Post 2022–23, no individuals were observed in this
area. The absence was confirmed as the same road was traversed almost every day
throughout these years, and raptors were recorded opportunistically in Rani
block. The raptors generally sighted in the areas are Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis, Oriental Honey-buzzard Pernis
ptilorhynchus, Eurasian Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus, Pied Harrier Circus melanoleucos,
Black Kite Milvus migrans, and
Black-shouldered Kite Elanus caeruleus.
During 2022–25, the Common Kestrel was observed in other
parts of Kamrup District, as well as in Assam (pers.
obs.). The eBird data of Assam show the presence of
the species from 15 November to 15 February (2008–2022) with a mean relative
abundance of 0.09 (Fink et al 2023). Yet, recent absence recorded from this
Rani block evokes a question—whether the birds are pushed away by the
urbanization pressure of the expanding Guwahati city or declining in numbers
due to any other reason. The population of Common Kestrel is in decline (BirdLife International 2021). Many factors affecting
various species of Kestrel populations are known, e.g., pesticides used in
agriculture affecting the species (Bird & Bowmen 1987), food shortage
affecting both Common Kestrel and Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni
(Davis 1975; Aparicio et al. 2022), predation of Common Kestrel by Northern
Goshawk Accipiter gentilis (Petty et al. 2003)
and hatching asynchrony due to climate change affecting the American Kestrels Falco
sparverius (Callery
et al. 2022). As the species is a winter visitor in India, large-scale counts
using citizen science, telemetry studies, and intensive studies of feeding
habits and habitat would throw some light on this issue.
Table 1. Sightings of Common Kestrel for 14 seasons
(2011–2025).
|
|
Year |
Number of sightings |
|
1 |
2011–12 |
38 |
|
2 |
2012–13 |
45 |
|
3 |
2013–14 |
48 |
|
4 |
2014–15 |
34 |
|
5 |
2015–16 |
37 |
|
6 |
2016–17 |
42 |
|
7 |
2017–18 |
38 |
|
8 |
2018–19 |
45 |
|
9 |
2019–20 |
40 |
|
10 |
2020–21 |
35 |
|
11 |
2021–22 |
20 |
|
12 |
2022–23 |
0 |
|
13 |
2023–24 |
0 |
|
14 |
2024–25 |
0 |
|
|
|
422 |
For
images - - click here for full PDF
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