Falcon ID (Romania)

[Rotarran]

I took these pictures of a falcon last year in August in Romania and would like to confirm its ID.  I always assumed that it is either a Saker Falcon or Lanner Falcon because it doesn't look like either a Peregrine or Gyrfalcon.  Plus it seems too big and substantial to be a Kestrel species.  

So between the Saker and Lanner, the Saker is far more common in Eastern Europe and that's what I think it is...but I could be wrong.  Sorry for the poor pics...in retrospect I wish I had stayed on this bird a bit longer and tried to get closer.  

Thank you for your help.

[thouc]

The very thin moustachial stripe indicates a Lanner or Saker Falcon as you say, which both seem pretty rare in Romania. One way to tell them apart is the colour/pattern of the feathers covering the legs, but that part is very over-exposed in the picture and not of much help. Maybe you are able to reduce the exposure?

/Thomas

[thouc]

Here's an interesting site about conservation efforts of the Saker Falcon in Hungary (where it is doing pretty well thanks to these efforts), Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria. The article below is about a successful breeding in the Banat region of Romania.

http://sakerlife2.mme.hu/en/content/suc ... icial-nest

[Reuven_M]

The head and back pattern make me think Common Kestrel, which is quite a bit bigger than an American Kestrel

[Rotarran]

The article below is about a successful breeding in the Banat region of Romania.

That's exactly where I saw it.  I visited my cousin in Timisoara in the village of Giarmata Vii which in the middle of many farm and grass fields.  Timisoara is less than 100Km away from the border with Hungary so it is reasonable to think that Hungary's program is spilling over into Banat.

The head and back pattern make me think Common Kestrel, which is quite a bit bigger than an American Kestrel

Thanks Reuven, I had considered it to be a Common/Eurasian Kestrel but this bird seemed somehow different.  Plus I saw Kestrels virtually every day from my cousin's house...they hunted prolifically all over the place.  Here's a picture of one...it just seems a lot thinner, smaller and generally less substantial than the one I think is a Saker Falcon.  But then the bird above could be a really large female and the bird below a small male:

[Rotarran]

But yeah the more I study the Saker, the less I'm convinced I saw one.  A Saker's head is a lot smaller relative to its body...similar to a Gyrfalcon.  While the head on a Kestrel tends to dominate a lot more.

[thouc]

Female Common Kestrel would fit and is a lot more likely.