Birds of Silvermine #7: Rock Kestrel
The cache is one of an additional 5 bird-themed caches added (with kind approval) to ge0cath’s original set of 5 located along an adjacent trail to the south.
See GC9DNAD BoS #6 Cape Sugarbird for background details and useful waypoints.
The rock kestrel (Falco rupicolus) is the most common small falcon in southern Africa and is widespread from NW and southern DRC to southern Tanzania, and south to South Africa. It usually lives in open, mountainous or rocky (semi-)arid areas.
It is a slender, medium-sized kestrel, 30-33cm tall with adult males weighing 183-254g and females 190-280g.
It eats a wide variety of organisms - primarily invertebrates, but also rodents, reptiles and birds.
It uses 2 main forms of hunting - hover hunting and perch hunting. Hover hunting generally happens at medium to high windspeeds and is where the kestrel remains stationary in the air with minimal wing flapping by utilizing updrafts. It is mainly used to catch small prey (like insects) which are subsequently eaten during flight.
Perch hunting is when the kestrel uses either natural (eg. cliffs & trees) or artificial (eg. electricity pylons & 
telephone poles) perches to scan the surrounding area for prey.
They have been seen following baboons through grasslands and catching the insect flushed out. There are also reports of them robbing nests for young birds and eating termites on the floor.
Their call is a harsh chay-chay-chay, especially when scaring off intruders (listen &&&).
It is monogamous, territorial and usually a solitary nester. The nest is typically a simple scrape in a hole or crack, or on the ledge of a cliff, quarry, road cutting or building. It may also use the nest of another bird, such a crow or raven, placed on a cliff, tree or man-made structure like a utility pole.
It lays 1-6 eggs between September-January, which are mainly incubated by the female - while the male sources food - for about 26-32 days.
The chicks stay in the nest for a further 31-39 days before leaving - but often stay nearby for several weeks – and become fully independent approx. 42 days later.
See here and here for more great photos.
Videos: see here (rehabilitation), here and here (eating a mouse - or two).