A small falcon found only in the forests of Mauritius.
It has a chestnut head, with black markings on the pale feathers of its chest, neck, and wings.
Researchers used long-term records to study breeding in a recovering population of Mauritius Kestrels. Across 30 years, they assembled a social pedigree of 1,758 birds and linked it to 1,240 nest records and resighting histories for 1,411 individuals. Together, these records allowed the team to follow family relationships alongside breeding outcomes for individual birds.
Eggs from more closely related birds were less likely to survive to fledging, and inbred adults had lower annual breeding success. Inbred females also produced fewer fledglings over their lifetimes. The population model estimated negative growth and a slight increase in extinction risk at the inbreeding level observed in the study.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
A model based on 30 years of records estimated negative population growth and a slight rise in extinction risk at the observed inbreeding level. Inbred eggs were less likely to survive to fledging, and inbred females had lower lifetime reproductive success.