- Falco eleonorae
Considered Endangered
Identification
The Eleonora's Falcon is an elegant bird of prey, 36-42 cm long with an 87-104 cm wingspan. It is like a large Hobby or a small slender Peregrine Falcon, with its long pointed wings, long tail and slim body. There are two colour phases. The adult dark morph is all dark 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.
Young birds are also like a large juvenile Hobby, but the pale underparts contrast with darker wingtips and wing coverts.
Distribution
Europe and Africa: As a breeding bird confined to the Western Palearctic, mainly in the Mediterranean, especially Greece, with a few colonies in the Atlantic. The world population is thought to be around 4-5000 pairs. Outside the Mediterranean breeds on a few islets north of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, where declining, and at two colonies on the coast of Morocco, one at Mogador Island off Essaouira. In Spain breeds on the Balearics, where increasing, and elsewhere. There are colonies on the west coast of Italy and on islets off Sicily but the majority of Italian birds are on Sardinia. Small numbers breed in one or two colonies in the Adriatic, notably on the Tremiti Islands off Italy and on islands off Croatia. The Greek islands hold more than half the world population with most colonies on the Cyclades and on and around Crete and smaller numbers on Limnos and the Sporades. There are also small numbers on Turkish islands and three colonies on Cyprus. In Mediterranean North Africa there are colonies in Algeria on the Iles Habibas, on an islet near Skikda and on the mainland coast of Grande Kabylie.
Taxonomy
Habitat
Breeds in colonies on rocky cliffs of uninhabited islands or remote and undisturbed mainland coasts. Usually seen hunting over the sea but also over marshes and freshwater lakes.
Behaviour
This is a late-summer breeder that feeds its young on migrating passerines.
