Falconidae
Nankeen Kestrel
Falco cenchroides
The Cinnamon Hour
- Length
- 33 cm
- Wingspan
- 72 cm
- Family
- Falconidae
Identification
A slim Australian falcon the colour of old nankeen cloth: rufous back finely spotted with black, pale streaked underparts, and a long tail with a dark band near the tip. Males wear a grey crown; females are rufous-headed. They hover like the kite, but slimmer, and the stoop is a falcon's.
Distinctive marks
- Rufous-cinnamon back
- Dark band near the tail tip
- Grey crown in males
- Dark line through the eye
- Hovers, then stoops
Behaviour & ecology
A bird of fence posts, stadium lights, and the air above a paddock. They take insects, lizards, and small mammals, and will hunt in the late gold of the afternoon when the air is still. Nests are a scrape on a ledge, a hollow, or an old raven's platform.
Voice
A rapid, high 'kee-kee-kee', especially near the nest.
On the Peninsula
Open country right across the Peninsula — farmland, cliffs, coastal dunes, and the edges of towns.
Season
Year-round. The hovering show is finest on clear autumn days.
Diet
Insects, small reptiles, and mice.
Conservation
Secure.
Lore & resonance
Nankeen is a cloth colour, and this falcon wears it as if the afternoon had been cut to fit. When it hangs over a paddock, the hour has a hunter in it.
If you would attract them
Open ground, a post, and no rodenticide. They will find the rest. A nest box on a quiet shed has been used; a live mouse in a trap is not a gift.
