Quick Facts

Genus: Falco

Species:punctatus

Habitat: forests of the island of Mauritius

Status: endangered

Photo by Phillip Coffey

Vocabulary Words: shrews, biological amplification, carrying capacity

Physical Appearance: The Mauritius kestrel is small falcon with short wings and a long tail.

Diet: Geckos form the largest part of the kestrel diet. Kestrels also eat small birds (even the endangered pink pigeon), mice, shrews(small, slender mouselike animals), and insects.

Predators: Black rats (Rattus rattus), mongooses (Herpestes auropuncatatus), feral cats (Felis catus) and monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) hunt kestrels.

Geographic Range: The island of Mauritius, Mascarene Islands, Indian Ocean

Biomes: Sub-tropical rainforest and sub-tropical evergreen forest

Habitat: The forests of Mauritius

IUCN Status: Endangered In 1973 it was estimated that only nine existed. Due to the work of scientists 250 young kestrels have been released on Mauritius.

Threats to Survival: Habitat destruction and pesticide use threatened the existence of Mauritius kestrels. Early colonists at end of the seventeenth century cut down forests for lumber, firewook and agricultural development. Only 5,000 ha remain from the original forest of 170,000 hectares. Populations of kestrel prey, especially geckos are declining due to habitat loss, leaving less food for kestrels.

During the 1950's and 1960's farmers sprayed pesticides like DDT trying to combat pests and diseases. Pesticide residues have been found in captive-laid kestrel eggs. Biological amplification, the process of increasing concentrations of chemicals like DDT in organisms at higher levels in the food web, threatens not only Mauritius kestrels but also peregrine falcons and humans. Low fertility is a partial result of pesticide contaimination.

The Wildlife Preservation Trust and the Mauritius goverment work together to breed captive kestrels and reintroduce them to suitable habitats. Early research indicated that evergreen forests were the only habitat where kestrels could live. Due to habitat destruction the carrying capacity(the maximum population of a particular species that a specific habitat could support over a period of time) of kestrels was believed to be low. Kestrels could not live without homes. Recently, scientists released kestrels in foreign habitats with successful results, thereby increasing the diversity of habitats and expanding the range.

Gerald Durrell, the founding member of The Wildlife Preservation Trust and leader of Mauritius kestrel conservation efforts once commented about his experience feeding a captive breed kestrel.

There was a faintest angel's breath of disturbed air, a flash - like an eye-flick -of a brown body, a gleaming eye, the gentlest touch of talons on my fingers as the mouse was deftly removed and the hawk flew off with it. It was an astonishing experience to have this bird, of which there had been only four specimens in the wild and which was now, with the aid of captive breeding, well on the way to recovery, swoop down from the sky like a dart and take a mouse from my fingers. (Excerpted from The Aye-Aye and I pg. 165).