Eleonora's Falcon Falco eleonorae Scientific name definitions

36–42 cm; male 350–390 g, female 340–460 g (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); wingspan 84–105 cm (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Polymorphic, with pale and dark morphs and also some intermediates; from below, dark underwing coverts contrast with paler, mostly unbarred flight feathers. Commoner pale morph has whitish throat and cheeks and cream-coloured to reddish-brown breast and belly with black streaks. Dark morph all blackish. Female slightly larger. In adult, irides dark brown; cere and orbital rings yellow in male, blue in female ; feet yellow. Juvenile also dimorphic, generally browner than corresponding adult plumages and with paler fringes on feathers of back ; pale morph paler than adult, underparts greyish with dark spots on underwing coverts and barring on underside of flight feathers; cere bluish, feet greenish to greenish-yellow (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Islands and rocky coasts from Canary Is and NW Morocco E through Mediterranean to N Sporades, Lemnos, Cyclades, Dodecanese, Crete and Cyprus. Winters mainly in Madagascar; small numbers also in Mozambique and Mascarene Is.

Normally small islands and islets, typically uninhabited or very peaceful, on migratory routes of small birds; may appear on mainland coasts to hunt or during dispersal, but infrequently to nest. Breeds only within narrow latitudinal limits in Mediterranean zone. In winter quarters in Madagascar, occurs in and around open woodland and forest, as well as wetlands, paddyfields and lakes, mainly at 600–1500 m, occasionally to 2175 m (2 Safford, R. J., and A. F. A. Hawkins, Editors (2013). The Birds of Africa. Volume 8. The Malagasy Region. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Migratory. Leaves Mediterranean and Atlantic colonies from mid-Oct to early Nov, flying to main winter quarters in Madagascar. Smaller numbers winter in E Africa, Mascarene Is, and on other islands in SW Indian Ocean, including Seychelles (mainly on Aldabra) Comoros (considered annual on Mayotte), Mauritius and Reunion; three sight records and one found dead on Juan de Nova (2 Safford, R. J., and A. F. A. Hawkins, Editors (2013). The Birds of Africa. Volume 8. The Malagasy Region. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Presence in Madagascar coincides with rainy season, favouring abundance of insects, arriving in Nov (2 Safford, R. J., and A. F. A. Hawkins, Editors (2013). The Birds of Africa. Volume 8. The Malagasy Region. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); returns to breeding areas in late Apr and May, though exceptionally recorded in Madagascar as late as second week of May (3 Sueur, F. (1996) Observations ornithologiques à Madagascar. Alauda 64(4):435–442. Close ). Before breeding, may travel tens of kilometres from colonies to areas with greater abundance of insects or non-migratory birds, e.g. other islands, mainland coasts, often wetlands. In Spain pre-breeders spend extended periods in June and July hundreds of kilometres from colonies at sites far inland across the meseta (4 de Juana, E., and E. Garcia (2015). The Birds of the Iberian Peninsula. Bloomsbury, London, UK. Close ). Vagrant to British Isles and the Netherlands (once, Sept 2011) (5 Rijmenams, G. and Ebels, E.B. (2011). Eleonora’s Valk in Oostvaardersplassen in september 26211. Dutch Birding. 33(6): 377-381. Close ), as well as Amsterdam I, in S Indian Ocean (Jan 1982) (6 Jiguet, F., A. Robert, T. Micol, and C. Barbraud (2007). Quantifying stochastic and deterministic threats to island seabirds: last endemic prions face extinction from falcon peregrinations. Animal Conservation 10:245–253. Close ).

Knowledge of migration pathways was refined owing to satellite-telemetry studies that began in 2003. Five adult females captured at nests in Sardinia, Italy, in 2003 and 2004 departed from 20–29 Oct and headed to the S-ESE before they turned S across the African mainland to arrive in Madagascar c. 22 days later; seven juveniles captured from 2003–2005 departed slightly later on average, from 21–31 Oct, and headed nearly due S, stopping for c. 14 days in West Africa from Niger and Burkina Faso to Nigeria and Cameroon before turning to the E-SE to arrive at wintering sites in DR Congo, Madagascar and Comoros c. 64 days after leaving the breeding grounds (7 Gschweng, M., Kalko, E.K.V., Querner, U., Fielder, W. and Berthold, P. (2008). All across Africa: highly individual migration routes of Eleonora’s Falcon. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (Series B Biological Sciences) 275: 2887–2896. Close ). Two of the adult females and two juveniles also were tracked during spring migration and summer. The adults departed Madagascar on 19 and 23 Apr and flew N to stopover sites in Ethiopia, then flew W-NW across C Africa, one stopping in Morocco and then mainland Italy for prolonged periods before returning to Sardinia on 13 Sept, and the other stopping in Algeria before returning to the nesting grounds on 22 May. A juvenile that wintered in DR Congo left on 11 Apr and flew NW and then W across Africa from Sudan to Mauritania, where it arrived on 29 Jun; it ranged in various parts of Mauritania, Senegal, Mali and Morocco until at least 16 Aug, when its signal disappeared. The other juvenile left Madagascar on 7 May, arrived in Ethiopia on 14 May, and then moved to Somalia on 22 May, where it remained until at least 19 Jun when its transmitter stopped working (7 Gschweng, M., Kalko, E.K.V., Querner, U., Fielder, W. and Berthold, P. (2008). All across Africa: highly individual migration routes of Eleonora’s Falcon. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (Series B Biological Sciences) 275: 2887–2896. Close ). Trans-African migration was confirmed by subsequent satellite-telemetry studies of birds breeding in the Balearic and Columbretes Is, Spain (8 López-López, P., Limiñana, R., Mellone, U. and Urios, V. (2010). From the Mediterranean Sea to Madagascar: are there ecological barriers for the long-distance migrant Eleonora’s Falcon? Landscape Ecology. 25(5): 803–813. Close , 9 Mellone, U., López López, P., Limiñana, R., Piasevoli, G. and Urios, V. (2013). The trans-equatorial loop migration system of Eleonora’s Falcon: differences in migration patterns between age classes, regions and seasons. Journal of Avian Biology. 44(5): 417–426. Close ), and on islands in the Aegean Sea off Greece (10 Kassara, C., Fric, J., Gschweng, M. and Sfenthourakis, S. (2012). Complementing the puzzle of Eleonora’s Falcon (Falco eleonorae) migration: new evidence from an eastern colony in the Aegean Sea. Journal of Ornithology. 153(3): 839–848. Close ). Satellite telemetry also has shown that some adults make forays up to 400 km inland into Spain, France and Italy from May–Jul, just before the start of nesting, to visit a variety of forested and open habitats (including agricultural lands), presumably to take advantage of high availability of insect prey (11 Mellone, U., López-López, P., Limiñana, R. and Urios, V. (2013). Summer pre-breeding movements of Eleonora’s Falcon Falco eleonorae revealed by satellite telemetry: implications for conservation. Bird Conservation International. 23(4): 487-494. Close ).

Large flying insects and small birds ; especially adapted to take advantage of autumn migrations . Insects taken mainly outside migration peak, and in winter quarters; feeds on, e.g. Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Odonata (12 Corso, A. (2011). Migrating dragonflies as a food source for breeding Eleonora’s Falcons and migrating raptors. British Birds. 104(11): 671-672. Close ), Orthoptera and flying ants; insects eaten by bird in flight. Very wide range of birds taken, varying locally and seasonally: various warblers (Phylloscopus, Sylvia), shrikes (Lanius), Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), Common Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata), Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra); in Balearic Is, Eurasian Swift (Apus apus) commonly taken, especially fledglings; rarely hunts prey larger than Hoopoe (Upupa epops), which is locally important. Normally hunts birds over sea ; in certain conditions several individuals will hover and form a barrier to intercept migrants. Caching of both dead and live surplus prey; the latter rendered flightless by plucking, has been reported from the Essaouira archipelago, Morocco (13 Qninba, A., Benhoussa, A., Radi, M., El Idrissi, A., Bousadik, H., Badaoui, B. and El Agbani, M.A. (2015). Mode de prédation très particulier du faucon d’Éléonore Falco eleonorae sur l’Archipel d’Essaouira (Maroc Atlantique). Alauda. 83(2): 149–150. Close ).  Marked tendency to hunt crepuscularly; nocturnal hunting has been reported, and occasionally takes bats (14 Duquet, M. and Nadal, R. (2012). La capture de chauves-souris par des rapaces diurnes en France: essai de synthèse. Ornithos. 19(3): 184-195. Close ). In winter quarters sometimes hunts with Black Kites (Milvus migrans) (2 Safford, R. J., and A. F. A. Hawkins, Editors (2013). The Birds of Africa. Volume 8. The Malagasy Region. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Principal vocalization a nasal and somewhat grating “kyeh kyeh kyeh kyah” ; also gives various sharp alarm notes in vicinity of nest, e.g. “kak kak” or “kekeke”  .

Lays very late, mostly mid Jul–Aug, so that rearing of young coincides with autumn migration of small birds. Colonial, with up to 300 pairs together, though normally just tens; nesting principally on near-shore islets. Nest site in holes and ledges of sea cliffs, or on ground, under bushes or in crevices; distance between nests varies with space available, but sometimes only a few metres. Normally 2–3 white or pinkish-white eggs variably marked with pale brown or pinkish brown (15 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ) (1–4, rarely up to seven) (15 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ), laid at interval of 1–3 days, size 42·2 mm × 33·1 mm (15 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ); incubation 28–33 days, starting with first or second egg, by female alone (15 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ); chicks have creamy-white or greyish-white first down, with second down longer and coarser, and brown (15 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ); fed on small birds brought by male (15 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ); fledging c. 28–37 days (15 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ); chicks can leave colony two weeks later. Breeding success varies annually and locally: 1·3–2·5 young fledged per breeding pair, and 1·6–2·6 per successful pair. Sexual maturity at 2–3 years.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES II. No drastic changes noted in total population, apart from some natural fluctuations; local increases or declines dependent on human pressure. In 1980s, an estimated 4000 pairs were distributed among c. 100 colonies, almost all in Mediterranean zone, especially in Aegean Sea: c. 2500 pairs in Greece; also sizeable population of 480–500 pairs in Italy ; and over 500 pairs in Balearic Is in 1991; at least 120 pairs in Algeria, in four colonies (16 Peyre, O., Benhariga, S., Beddek, M., Mebarki, S. and Allegrini, B. (2014). Découverte de la plus importante colonie algeriénne du Faucon d’Éléonore Falco eleonorae. [Discovery of the largest colony of Eleonora's Falcon Falco eleonorae in 219813 in Algeria.] Alauda. 82(4): 355–356. In French with English summary. Close ). In Atlantic sector, 90 pairs in Morocco in 1986, and at least 65 pairs in Canary Is in late 1980s. Surveys of Greek nesting islands conducted from 2004–2006 resulted in an estimated 12,300 breeding pairs, perhaps constituting c. 90% of the global breeding population (17 Dimalexis, A., Xirouchakis, S., Portolou, D., Latsoudis, P., Karris, G., Fric, J., Georgiakakis, P., Barboutis, C., Bourdakis, S., Ivovič, M., Kominos, T. and Kakalis, E. (2008). The status of Eleonora’s Falcon (Falco eleonorae) in Greece. Journal of Ornithology. 149(1): 23-30. Close ). Traditionally persecuted and exploited by local human populations, particularly through theft of chicks and eggs, mainly for food; also affected by tourist development, which leads to lower breeding success. In Morocco, decline in 1960s and 1970s due to human disturbance and persecution; seems stable in Canary Is; increased in Balearic Is during 1980s; stable in Italy, despite interference in breeding colonies. Main problems caused simply by lack of regard for species and its colonies; species has responded very well when protected effectively.