The banded kestrel (''Falco zoniventris'') is a bird of prey belonging to the falcon family

Falconidae The falcons and caracaras are around 60 species of diurnal birds of prey that make up the family Falconidae (representing all extant species in the order Falconiformes). The family is divided into three subfamilies, Herpetotherinae, which inclu ...

. It is endemic to Madagascar and is also known as the Madagascar banded kestrel, barred kestrel or Madagascar barred kestrel. Its closest relatives are the

grey kestrel The grey kestrel (''Falco ardosiaceus'') is an African bird of prey belonging to the falcon family Falconidae. Its closest relatives are the banded kestrel and Dickinson's kestrel and the three are sometimes placed in the subgenus ''Dissodect ...

and

Dickinson's kestrel Dickinson's kestrel (''Falco dickinsoni'') is a bird of prey of southern and eastern Africa belonging to the falcon family Falconidae. It is named after John Dickinson, an English physician and missionary who collected the type specimen. It is a ...

of mainland Africa and the three are sometimes placed in the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

''Dissodectes''. It is 27–30 cm long with a wingspan of 60–68 cm. The upperparts are grey and the tail is dark. The underparts are whitish with dark grey streaks on the throat and upper breast and dark grey barring on the lower breast and belly. The feet, eyes and cere are yellow and there is bare yellow skin around the eye.

Juvenile Juvenile may refer to: *Juvenile status, or minor (law), prior to adulthood *Juvenile (organism) *Juvenile (rapper) (born 1975), American rapper * ''Juvenile'' (2000 film), Japanese film * ''Juvenile'' (2017 film) *Juvenile (greyhounds), a greyho ...

birds are browner than the adults with darker eyes and less bare skin around the eye. The species has a shrill, staccato, chattering call and a sharp, screaming call but is usually silent outside the breeding season. It is fairly common in the southern and western parts of Madagascar but more local in the north and east and absent from the central plateau. It occurs from sea level up to 2000 metres. It inhabits clearings and edges in forest and woodland. It rarely hovers, preferring to hunt from a perch. It feeds on small

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s such as chamaeleons and

day geckos ''Phelsuma'' is a large genus of geckos in the family Gekkonidae. Species in the genus ''Phelsuma'' are commonly referred to as day geckos. Some day geckos are seriously endangered and some are common, but all ''Phelsuma'' species are CITES Appe ...

, large insects such as

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

s and beetles and occasionally on birds. Prey is caught on the ground or snatched from a branch or tree trunk. Breeding takes place from September to December. The nest is a simple scrape, usually in the old nest of another bird, especially the sickle-billed vanga. The nest is located in a tree hole or amongst epiphytic growth. Three yellowish eggs are laid.

References

*Ferguson-Lees, James & Christie, David A. (2001) ''Raptors of the World'', Christopher Helm, London. *Global Raptor Information Network (2007)
Species account: Banded Kestrel Falco zoniventris.
' Downloaded from http://www.globalraptors.org on 2 Aug. 2007. *Sinclair, Ian & Langrand, Olivier (1998) ''Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands'', Struik, Cape Town.

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q599704 banded kestrel Endemic birds of Madagascar Birds of prey of Madagascar banded kestrel banded kestrel