Turmfalke Tyrol

The Turmfalke inhabits almost every open landscape that offers a clear view of its prey. It prefers field margins, meadows, pastures, heaths, woodland edges and fallow land, in other words classic open country with low vegetation, where it hunts mice and other small mammals. Its German name, literally tower falcon, reflects its preference for elevated nest sites. Cliff faces, quarries, church towers, castles and bridge piers have historically served as breeding sites, and in recent decades high-rise buildings, industrial facilities and electricity pylons have been added to the list. This adaptability has made it one of the most successful synanthropic raptors, regularly breeding in the centre of large cities, where it is the most common bird of prey. The most distinctive behaviour is the hovering flight, a hunting technique in which the kestrel holds its position about ten to twenty metres above the ground. With a widely fanned tail and rapidly beating wings, it compensates for wind movements, keeps its head almost motionless and uses its exceptionally sharp eyes to spot the slightest movement in the grass. Once it detects prey, it drops vertically. The technique is energetically costly, but by stretching and curving its neck when facing a headwind, the kestrel saves around 44 percent of the energy it would need for continuous hovering. No other native raptor performs sustained hovering as routinely, which makes identification in the field straightforward. To distinguish the kestrel from other native falcons, please pay attention to silhouette, tail and hunting style. The hobby is similar in size but appears slimmer in flight due to noticeably longer, narrower, almost swift-like wings and a shorter tail. It practically never hovers and instead hunts in elegant gliding and stooping flight, taking flying insects and small birds. The peregrine falcon is considerably stockier and more powerful, shows a distinct black moustachial stripe and has a strikingly fast, direct flight style, its hunting flight is the famous high-speed stoop from great altitude. If you therefore see a falcon hovering motionless above open country or above a city street, it is almost certainly a Turmfalke.