Eleonora's Falcon
Falco eleonorae
Strikingly long-winged and long-tailed elegant falcon with dark underwing coverts. Two plumage morphs: dark morph is uniformly dark while pale morph has white cheeks and a chestnut belly streaked with black. Juveniles resemble juvenile Eurasian Hobby but with contrasting underwing pattern. Graceful, relaxed flight may resemble a jaeger (skua), and is capable of similar turns of speed. Specializes on hunting migratory birds. Breeds on coastal cliffs and islands.
Identification
Eleonora's falcon is a bird of prey, 36–42 cm (14–17 in) long with an 87–104 cm (34–41 in) wingspan. It is shaped like a large Eurasian hobby or a small slender peregrine falcon, with its long pointed wings, long tail and slim body. <p>There are two colour morphs: The adult dark morph is all sooty brown, with black underwing coverts. The light morph is more like a juvenile Eurasian hobby, but has buff underparts, and also shows the contrast between the black underwing coverts and paler base to the flight feathers. Young birds are also like a large juvenile hobby, but the pale underparts contrast with darker wingtips and wing coverts. The call is a typical falcon kek-kek-kek.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Falco eleonorae
- Authority
- Géné, 1839
- Order
- Falconiformes
- Family
- Falconidae
- Genus
- Falco
Range and habitat
This species breeds on islands in the Mediterranean particularly off Greece (where two-thirds of the world's population breeds), but also in Cyprus, the Canary Islands, Ibiza and off Spain, Italy, Croatia, Morocco and Algeria. Tilos in the Dodecanese is the breeding area for 10% of the world population of Eleonora's falcons. Six hundred and fifty pairs of this species breed on this island according to research conducted by the Hellenic Ornithological Society and the European Union LIFE-Nature program of Tilos. It is rare as a vagrant north of its range. It also lives on the coast of Madagascar and Mozambique.
- Breeding range
- PAL : s Europe and n AF
- Non-breeding range
- e AF and Madagascar
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Ochre-naped Ground-Tyrant
Muscisaxicola flavinucha
Fairly large terrestrial flycatcher, breeding in the southern Andes and migrating north in winter. Favors bogs, streamsides, and other wet areas in open rocky and stony terrain, but migrants can be grounded in lowland fields. Often in same areas as other ground-tyrant species, and identified by grayish plumage tones, whitish forehead patch, and contrasting ochre nape patch (can be hard to see, depending on angle).
Superb Starling
Lamprotornis superbus
A chunky, short-tailed, colorful savanna starling. Note the white chest band, white undertail, and white patch on the underwing, conspicuous in flight. Immatures have a dark eye and lack a breast band, but are usually associated with adults. Found in a variety of dry or moderately moist habitats including savanna, woodland, thorn scrub, and villages, usually in small flocks, sometimes with other species of starlings. Similar to Hildebrandt’s and Shelley’s Starlings, but easily separated by the white breast band. The calls include a variety of scolds and squeals.
Dusky Sunbird
Cinnyris fuscus
A small sunbird. The male is dark overall, with a pale lower belly and orange tufts at the shoulder that are sometimes hidden. The female is plain gray-brown with a paler lower belly. Singles and pairs prefer arid scrub and savanna, feeding on insects and nectar. The species is nomadic and can irrupt in large numbers into areas where it is normally irregular, often on the fringes of its range. The female Dusky Sunbird has paler underparts than the similar female Southern Double-collared Sunbird.
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