Falco dickinsoni
Silhouette: Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Dickinson's kestrel (Falco dickinsoni) is a bird of prey of southern and eastern Africa belonging to the falcon family Falconidae. It is named after John Dickinson, an English physician and missionary who collected the type specimen. It is also known as the white-rumped kestrel. Its closest relatives are the grey kestrel and banded kestrel and the three are sometimes placed in the subgenus Dissodectes.
It is a fairly small, stocky kestrel with a large, square head. It is 27–30 cm (11–12 in) long with a wingspan of 61–68 cm (24–27 in) and a weight of 167–246 g (5.9–8.7 oz). The female is about 4% larger and 10-20% heavier than the male. The plumage is mostly dark grey with a pale head and rump. The tail is grey with narrow black bars and a broad subterminal band. The underside of the flight feathers are also barred. The cere and feet are yellow and there is bare yellow skin around the eye. The bill is dark grey and the eyes are brown. Juvenile birds are grey-brown with barred flanks and without the paler head and rump. They have a greenish cere and eye-ring.
It is usually silent but has a high-pitched alarm and contact call. At the nest, a soft, mewing call attracts... Wikipedia →
Call0:37
Tanzania · 2011
© Martin St-Michel · XC94807 · CC BY-NC-ND 2.5
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 2 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 3 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 4 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 5 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 6 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 7 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 8 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 9 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 10 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 11 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 12 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 13 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Dickinson's Kestrel sighting in Ruaha National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 260th most-seen of the 276 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, June and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Dickinson's Kestrel in Ruaha National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, March–May and July–November, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dickinson's Kestrel sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 13
Of the 13 parks where we can rate Dickinson's Kestrel sightings, Ruaha National Park ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in Liwonde National Park (Malawi, about 30%), Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 20%) and Moremi Game Reserve (Botswana, about 10%).
Same genus: Falco
The closest relatives of the Dickinson's Kestrel that you can see in Ruaha National Park (genus Falco, Typical Falcons) are Grey Kestrel (about 40%), Eurasian Hobby (about 10%) and Red-necked Falcon (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Dickinson's Kestrel is recorded against all the birds logged in Ruaha National Park (5 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
