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Winter Surveys Estimated 5.59 Common Kestrels and 2.61 Common Buzzards per km² in Parma Farmland

Common kestrel perched on a sign
Research · Ecology

Winter surveys in the agricultural lowlands of Parma Province in northern Italy found high densities of both common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) and common buzzard (Buteo buteo). Researchers surveyed 13 roadside transects during winter 2025–2026, covering a total sampling effort of 381.8 km and recording 489 kestrels and 178 buzzards.

Roadside attraction strongly affected the kestrel estimate

Distance-sampling models estimated 2.61 common buzzards per km², although uncertainty around the density estimate was substantial. In distance sampling, the birds’ distances from the survey route are used to account for the fact that detection becomes less likely farther from the observer. Common kestrels were strongly concentrated close to roads and their associated perches, so the researchers excluded observations within the first 50 m when calculating the more representative landscape estimate. After this correction, kestrel density was 5.59 birds per km², 41.1% lower than the uncorrected estimate; uncertainty around the density estimate remained substantial.

Figure showing habitat selection of wintering common kestrels and common buzzards in Parma farmland
Habitat selection of common kestrels (top) and common buzzards (bottom) in the Parma study area. Green indicates habitat use above availability, red avoidance and grey use in line with availability. Figure 4 from Rastelli et al. (2026), CC BY-SA 4.0.

The two raptors used the farmland differently

The two species also differed in how they used the farmland mosaic. Kestrels clearly selected embankments and watercourses as well as alfalfa and permanent grasslands, while avoiding annual crops and urban areas. Buzzards strongly selected embankments and watercourses and avoided annual crops and urban areas, while their use of alfalfa and permanent grassland was consistent with its availability rather than showing clear selection.

Among birds recorded on a perch, 73.8% of kestrels used anthropogenic structures such as pylons, wires and poles, compared with 62.0% of buzzards. The authors suggest that the combination of abundant forage habitats supporting prey and increasingly mild, snow-free winters may help explain the high winter densities they recorded in the Parma lowlands.

Sources and image credit

  1. Rastelli, D., Todeschini, L., & Pavesi, A. (2026). Perched above the fields: density and habitat selection of wintering raptors in an intensive farmland area in northern Italy. Avocetta, 50. https://doi.org/10.30456/avo.30994Primary open-access research article published 15 July 2026 under CC BY-SA 4.0. Thirteen roadside transects in Parma Province recorded 489 common kestrels and 178 common buzzards; corrected density estimates were 5.59 and 2.61 birds/km² respectively.

Image: Andreas Trepte / Wikimedia Commons — male common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) perched on a human-made sign, photographed 16 April 2009. The anthropogenic perch is directly relevant to the Parma study, in which perched kestrels frequently used pylons, wires, poles and other human-made structures. Representative image; not a bird from the 2025–2026 Parma study. · CC BY-SA 2.5 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ · Source

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Ecology

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus Explore species Common Buzzard Buteo buteo Explore species

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