---
title: "Lesser Kestrel"
description: "Falco naumanni — Uccelli. The lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) is a small falcon."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/lesser-kestrel
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Lesser Kestrel

> Falco naumanni — Uccelli. The lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) is a small falcon.

- Scientific name: *Falco naumanni*
- Category: `birds` (Uccelli)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 7085
- Wikidata: [Q229408](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q229408)
- iNaturalist taxon: [59845](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/59845)

## Names

- en: Lesser Kestrel
- de: Rötelfalke
- es: Cernicalo primilla
- fr: Faucon crécerellette
- nl: Kleine torenvalk
- pt: Peneireiro-das-torres
- pl: Pustułeczka

## Countries with the most observations

ES (1756), RU (723), FR (570), GR (531), IT (383), DZ (285), PT (221), ZA (195), KZ (105), MA (89), IL (80), TZ (72)

## Summary

The lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) is a small falcon. This species breeds from the Mediterranean across Afghanistan and Central Asia, to China and Mongolia. It is a summer migrant, wintering in Africa and Pakistan and sometimes even to India and Iraq. It is rare north of its breeding range, and declining in its European range. The genus name derives from Late Latin falx, falcis, a sickle, referencing the claws of the bird, and the species name commemorates the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Naumann.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_kestrel

## Photo

![Lesser Kestrel](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/lesser-kestrel/medium.jpg)

Photo: Андрей Агафонов · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/401149507

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/lesser-kestrel?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).