Editing Common kestrel (section)

==Taxonomy==
The common kestrel was [[Species description|formally described]] in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' under the current [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Falco tinnunculus''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=90 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726997 }}</ref> Linnaeus specified the [[type location (biology)|type location]] as Europe but restricted this to Sweden in 1761.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1761 | title=Fauna svecica, sistens animalia sveciae regni mammalia, aves amphibia, pisces, insecta, vermes | edition=2nd | location=Stockholmiae | publisher=Sumtu & Literis Direct. Laurentii Salvii | language=Latin | page=21 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32170490 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=405 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16109045 }}</ref> The genus name is [[Late Latin]] from ''falx'', ''falcis'', a [[sickle]], referencing the claws of the bird.<ref name=SOED>{{cite book|title=Shorter Oxford English dictionary | year=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press| location=United Kingdom| isbn=978-0199206872| pages=3804}}</ref> The species name ''tinnunculus'' is [[Latin]] for "kestrel" from "tinnulus", "shrill".<ref name= job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |pages =[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n266 266], 386}}</ref> The Latin name ''tinnunculus'' had been used by the Swiss naturalist [[Conrad Gessner]] in 1555.<ref>{{cite book| last=Gesner | first=Conrad | author-link=Conrad Gessner | title=Historiae animalium liber III qui est de auium natura. Adiecti sunt ab initio indices alphabetici decem super nominibus auium in totidem linguis diuersis: & ante illos enumeratio auium eo ordiné quo in hoc volumine continentur | year=1555 | publisher=Froschauer | location=Zurich | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/52660934 | pages=53–55 }}</ref> The word "kestrel" is derived from the French crécerelle which is diminutive for crécelle, which also referred to a bell used by lepers. The word is earlier spelt 'c/kastrel', and is evidenced from the 15th century.<ref name=OED>{{OED|kestrel}}</ref> The kestrel was once used to drive and keep away pigeons.<ref name=Weekley1921/> Archaic names for the kestrel include ''[[wikt:windhover|windhover]]'' and ''[[wikt:windfucker|windfucker]],'' due to its habit of beating the wind (hovering in air).<ref name=OED/>

This species is part of a [[clade]] that contains the kestrel species with black [[Cheek|malar]] stripes, a feature which apparently was not present in the most ancestral kestrels. They seem to have [[radiation (biology)|radiated]] in the [[Gelasian]] ([[Late Pliocene]],<ref>Possibly to be reclassified as [[Early Pleistocene]].</ref> roughly 2.5–2 [[mya (unit)|mya]], probably starting in tropical East Africa, as indicated by [[mtDNA]] [[cytochrome b|cytochrome ''b'']] [[DNA sequence|sequence]] data analysis and considerations of [[biogeography]].<ref name=Groombridge2002/> A [[molecular phylogenetic]] study published in 2015 found that the common kestrel's closest relatives were the [[spotted kestrel]] ''Falco moluccensis'' and the [[Nankeen kestrel]] ''Falco cenchroides''.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Fuchs | first1=J. | last2=Johnson | first2=J.A. | last3=Mindell | first3=D.P. | date=2015 | title=Rapid diversification of falcons (Aves: Falconidae) due to expansion of open habitats in the Late Miocene | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=82 | pages=166–182 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2014.08.010| pmid=25256056 | bibcode=2015MolPE..82..166F }}</ref>

The [[rock kestrel]] (''F. rupicolus''), previously considered a subspecies, is now treated as a distinct species.<ref name=ioc/> The [[lesser kestrel]] (''F. naumanni''), which much resembles a small common kestrel with no black on the upperside except wing and tail tips, is probably not very closely related to the present species, and the [[American kestrel]] (''F. sparverius'') is apparently not a true [[kestrel]] at all.<ref name=Groombridge2002/> Both species have much grey in their wings in males, which does not occur in the common kestrel or its close living relatives but does in almost all other falcons.

=== Subspecies ===
[[File:Falco tinnunculus -El Castillo del Romeral, Canary Islands, Spain-8.jpg|right|thumb|''F. t. canariensis'' from [[Gran Canaria]]]]
[[File:Common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), Hurghada, Egypt - 20110923.jpg|thumb|''F. t. rupicolaeformis'' from [[Hurghada]], Egypt]]
Eleven [[subspecies]] are recognised.<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=December 2023 | title=Seriemas, falcons | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/falcons/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=10 February 2024 }}</ref>  Most differ little, and mainly in accordance with [[Bergmann's rule|Bergmann's]] and [[Gloger's rule]]s. Tropical African forms have less grey in the male plumage.<ref name=Orta1994/>

* ''F. t. tinnunculus'' <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small> – [[temperate]] areas of Europe, North Africa, the [[Middle East]], and Asia north of the [[Hindu Kush]]-[[Himalaya]] mountain ranges to the NW [[Sea of Okhotsk]] region. Northern Asian populations [[Bird migration|migrate]] south in winter, apparently not crossing the Himalayas but diverting to the west.
* ''F. t. perpallidus'' <small>([[Austin Hobart Clark|Clark, AH]], 1907)</small> – northeast Siberia to northeast China and [[Korea|Korea Peninsula]]
* ''F. t. interstinctus'' <small>[[John McClelland (doctor)|McClelland]], 1840</small> –  breeds [[East Asia]] from [[Tibet]] to [[Korea]] and [[Japan]], south into [[Indochina]]. Winters to the south of its breeding range, from northeastern [[India]] to the [[Philippines]] (where it is localized, e.g. from [[Mindanao]] only two records exist). Has dark heavily marked birds and has a foxed red phase but not reliably identified in the field.<ref name=Peterson2008/><ref name=Rasmussen2005/>
* ''F. t. objurgatus'' <small>([[E. C. Stuart Baker|Baker, ECS]], 1929)</small> – [[Western Ghats|Western]], [[Nilgiris]] and [[Eastern Ghats]] of India; [[Sri Lanka]]. Heavily marked, has rufous thighs with dark grey head in males.<ref name=Rasmussen2005/><ref name=Whistler1949/>
* ''F. t. canariensis'' <small>([[Alexander Koenig|Koenig]], 1890)</small> – [[Madeira]] and western [[Canary Islands]]
* ''F. t. dacotiae'' <small>[[Ernst Hartert|Hartert, EJO]], 1913</small> – eastern Canary Islands: [[Fuerteventura]], [[Lanzarote]], [[Chinijo Archipelago]].
* ''F. t. neglectus'' <small>[[Hermann Schlegel|Schlegel]], 1873</small> – northern [[Cape Verde Islands]]
* ''F. t. alexandri'' <small>Bourne, 1955</small> – southwestern Cape Verde Islands.
* ''F. t. rupicolaeformis'' <small>([[Christian Ludwig Brehm|Brehm, CL]], 1855)</small> – [[Arabian Peninsula]] except in the desert and across the [[Red Sea]] into Africa
* ''F. t. archerii'' <small>(Hartert, EJO & [[Oscar Neumann|Neumann]], 1932)</small> – [[Somalia]], coastal [[Kenya]], and [[Socotra]]
* ''F. t. rufescens'' <small>[[William Swainson|Swainson]], 1837</small> – [[Sahel]] east to [[Ethiopia]], southwards around [[Congo Basin]] to south [[Tanzania]] and northeast [[Angola]].

The common kestrels of Europe living during cold periods of the [[Quaternary glaciation]] differed slightly in size from the current population; they are sometimes referred to as the [[paleosubspecies]] ''F. t. atavus'' (''see also'' [[Bergmann's rule]]). The remains of these birds, which presumably were the direct ancestors of the living ''F. t. tinnunculus'' (and perhaps other subspecies), are found throughout the then-unglaciated parts of Europe, from the [[Late Pliocene]] ([[European Land Mammal Age|ELMA]] [[Villanyian]]/[[International Commission on Stratigraphy|ICS]] [[Piacenzian]], [[MN16]]) about 3 [[million years ago]] to the [[Middle Pleistocene]] [[Saalian]] glaciation which ended about 130,000 years ago, when they finally gave way to birds indistinguishable from those living today. Some of the [[vole]]s the Ice Age common kestrels ate—such as [[European pine vole]]s (''Microtus subterraneus'')—were indistinguishable from those alive today. Other prey species of that time [[Evolution|evolve]]d more rapidly (like ''[[Microtus malei|M. malei]]'', the presumed ancestor of today's [[tundra vole]] ''M. oeconomus''), while yet again others seem to have gone entirely [[extinct]] without leaving any living descendants—for example ''[[Pliomys lenki]]'', which apparently fell victim to the [[Weichselian glaciation]] about 100,000 years ago.<ref name=Mlikovsky2002/><ref name=MourerChauvire2003/>