Kestrel (I think?)

Was at the local airport when I spotted these beauties, don't think my photos do them justice but really enjoyed snapping them!

1.

Very good job. Kestrel it is.

It's a female Merlin. Well done for getting those pics as they're small, quick and very agile.

Yes Merlin, They are very similar species.

Initially My thoughts were drawn to female kestrel, so it would be helpful if you could describe what are the distinguishing features that make identify this as a Merlin ?

birderman wrote in post #17241425
Initially My thoughts were drawn to female kestrel, so it would be helpful if you could describe what are the distinguishing features that make identify this as a Merlin ?

It's a Kestrel for me as well, especially looking at photo 2.

Richard

These may be 2 separate birds, I can't guarantee it was the same one I was chasing around

They do it so much better than I, All about Birds great site


http://www.allaboutbir​ds.org/guide/Merlin/id

the issues I have is in the UK the merlin is very rare, compared to the Kestrel which is much more common. Plus according to the texts/id guides I have read the Merlin is darker than the kestrel yet the birds in the OP are lighter brown that I would expect to see in the kestrel. I also think that there could be issues with much of the online content that I could find such as www.allaboutbirds.org seem to be biased to towards comparisons with the American Kestrel which is slightly different to the Kestrel we get in the UK. Don't get me wrong, at present I am not saying it is not a Merlin but that I would of said it is more likely to a Kestrel in the UK and that it would help that anyone ID'ng it as a Merlin would help if they gave some details of why they have come to that conclusion from the OP photos. The guides and other images I have looked at to ID this bird have not made it any easier to distinguish between the two species.

heres my 2p:

photo 1 &2-Kestrel due to colouration on back shows kestrel - brown back with darker wing tips. Merlins are darker and greyer
3&4 whilst they have the streaked breast, they still show colouration of kestrel - brown back, pale chin

FWIW

John

Nice catch.