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Eleonora's Falcon

A species of True Falcons
Scientific name : Falco eleonorae Genus : True Falcons

Eleonora's Falcon, A species of True Falcons
Botanical name: Falco eleonorae
Genus: True Falcons
Eleonora's Falcon (Falco eleonorae) Photo By JĂźrgen Dietrich , used under CC-BY-3.0-DE /Cropped and compressed from original

Description

Eleonora's falcon is an elegant 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. 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.
Size
42 cm
Life Expectancy
6 years
Nest Placement
Cliff
Feeding Habits
Eleonora's Falcon primarily preys on migratory birds and large insects like dragonflies. It exhibits unique behavior by imprisoning prey for later consumption. Feeding offspring with fresh catch aligns with its delayed breeding season, coinciding with bird migration peaks.
Habitat
Eleonora's Falcon inhabits warm cliff environments on secluded islands and coastal Mediterranean regions for breeding. Preferring minimally disturbed, remote areas, its breeding range extends to the Canary Islands and even Madagascar. In off-seasons, eleonora's Falcon migrates to Madagascar and Mozambique's coastal belts, residing in woodlands, forests, wetlands, and farmlands between 600 to 1500 meters elevation.
Dite type
Carnivorous

Migration Overview

This is a long-distance migrant, wintering in Madagascar. The migration route has been recently discovered and, contrary to previous suggestions, it has been demonstrated by satellite telemetry to be inland through the African continent. Traditionally it has been suggested to be coastal, with birds from the western end of the Mediterranean flying to Suez before flying south down the Red Sea, and across the Horn of Africa. However, recent satellite tracked animals by Spanish and German researchers have demonstrated an inland route through the Sahara Desert, the equatorial rainforests until reaching Kenya and Mozambique. The total distance covered during the flight has reached up to 9,000 km (5,600 mi) for a single one-way trip.

General Info

Feeding Habits

Bird food type

Distribution Area

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 Park 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.

Species Status

Not globally threatened.
Eleonora's Falcon (Falco eleonorae) Eleonora's Falcon (Falco eleonorae) Photo By JĂźrgen Dietrich , used under CC-BY-3.0-DE /Cropped and compressed from original
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