Gray Kestrel

Crossing the bridge over the Victoria Nile near the Paraa Lodge in Murchison Falls NP we stopped near the end of the bridge to look for birds and one of them we saw was the gray kestrel. 

The first two photos are mine and the last two are my granddaughter's photos. 

It has yellow legs and feet, cere and skin around the eyes; it is dark gray with darker wing tips, faint dark streaking on the body and slightly barred flight feathers. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. 

It perches on exposed branches, telephone poles and wires, and seems to particularly like palm trees near water. It likes savannas, open woodlands and forest clearings, but is not found in densely forested regions, like the Congo Basin. It feeds on insects, lizards and small mammals, like bats, but it will also eat oil palm nuts, one of the few birds of prey that eats vegetable matter.