Eleonora's Falcon
Scientific Name: Falco eleonoraeMaltese Name: Bies tar-Regina
Family: Falcons (Falconiformes)
Occurence: Scarce
Breeds in Malta: No
Overview:
Eleonora's Falcon is an elegant bird of prey. 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 Hobby, but has buff underparts, and also shows the contrast between the black underwing coverts and paler base to the flight feathers.
This species breeds on islands in the Mediterranean particularly off Greece (where two-thirds of the world's population breeds), but also in the Canary Islands, and off Spain, Italy, Croatia, Morocco and Algeria. Eleonora's Falcon is named after Eleonor of Arborea, national heroine of Sardinia. This is a long-distance migrator, 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.
It nests colonially on coastal cliffs, laying up to four eggs. This species has a delayed breeding season, in late summer, because it is a specialist hunter of migrating birds which pass through the Mediterranean islands at this time of year. It captures small birds in flight, using its speed and aerobatic skills.
Status:
Scarce passage migrant, mainly in autumn, and may also be considered as a summer visitor. Normally seen in singles or couples. Both morphes are seen with the lighter morph being more common. Probabbly most of the birds seen here are young or non-breeding ones as they are seen here during the time when they should be breeding.
When to See:
Best time is mid-August till September but is also seen in July and October.
Where to See:
Best place to see is Buskett in Autumn during raptor migration where Eleonora's Falcons may be seen hunting along with other falcon species such as the Hobby. May be seen flying over from anywhere during migration.
Photographs:
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Eleonora's Falcon, light morph, Buskett |
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