The Seychelles Kestrel (Falco araea).

On the 3rd of May I was once again in the flat when I heard the distinctive “kikiki” call of a Seychelles Kestrel (Falco araea). I looked out of the window just in time to see two birds flash past. They didn’t go far as I could still hear the repetitive shrill call nearby, so I grabbed my camera and went out onto the balcony. The calling was close and from above and leaning out I could see a bird very close by on the roof above... unfortunately my position was too precarious to allow me to free my hands to take what would otherwise have been a great photo.

The bird soon took wing however and went across the complex to a rooftop on the other side where it faced off against another bird! One most often sees a kestrel because of its call and this is often when one bird appears to be pursuing another as part of territorial defence. After that I most often see them when walking when my eye is caught by the rapid movement of a bird as they swoop down to grab a lizard from a roof top or the ground. I had never actually seen one kestrel hold its ground against another though.

The birds faced each other across a few metres of corrugated roof calling harshly, backs hunched aggressively and feathers raised. Clearly this display did not determine supremacy as the birds then closed on each other and fought! I had never seen this behaviour before and did my best to capture it on film. The distance, rapid movement of the birds and the fact that they were just over the peak of the roof detracts from the quality of the image but nevertheless the display and fighting can be seen in the photos in the sidebar.

The fight lasted only 15-20 seconds with the birds rolling away separating and flying off one in pursuit of the other. The combat itself was rather one-sided with I presume the interloper being vanquished... but fascinating to observe.

The Seychelles kestrel is the only resident bird of prey in the central archipelago. This very small kestrel is classified as Vulnerable with a decreasing population on the IUCN Red list of Threatened Species. Its decline has been most evident in the Praslin/ La Digue group of islands where it is reportedly no longer found on la Digue or satellites such as Felicite and Marianne and has a low population of only 10 -15 pairs on Praslin.

My impression of the population on Mahe however is that it is quite healthy birds being seen pretty much everywhere and the species has moved in to and successfully colonised the reclaimed land along the east coast of Mahe. Small populations persist on Silhouette and North islands and it is also regularly seen on the islands of Conception and Therese though it is not clear if this is resident birds or merely visitors from Mahe.