• The common kestrel is a highly adaptable species found in a wide range of habitats. It occurs on plains but avoids dense forests and completely treeless steppes.

Eurasian kestrels inhabit the biogeographical realms of Afrotropics, Indomalaya, and Palearctics. The species is found in Celtic broadleaf forests, broadleaf forests of Western Europe, coniferous forests of the Qilian Mountains, Balkan mixed forests, Baltic mixed forests, and coniferous and mixed forests of the Pyrenees.