Editing Common kestrel (section)

=== 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/>