Eleonora's Falcon

Fascinating facts about the Eleonora's Falcon

• Eleonora's falcons breed on a schedule that seems backward: they nest in late summer and autumn, timing their chicks' fledging for the exact moment millions of migrating songbirds pass through the Mediterranean on their way south. A single falcon pair can catch 300 small birds per breeding season, turning the annual exodus of warblers and swallows into a feast timed to the calendar.
• Males court females with mid-air food passes—he dives from above, she flips upside down at the last millisecond to snatch the prey from his talons without breaking formation. This synchronized ballet happens dozens of times during courtship, a ballet that tests whether a male can hunt well enough to feed a partner and chicks.
• Named after Eleanor of Aragon in the 14th century, Eleonora's falcon colonises rocky islands and sea cliffs across the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Middle East—around 7,000 pairs total. Yet they vanish for 8 months of the year, migrating to Madagascar and East Africa, one of the longest intercontinental journeys any falcon undertakes.
• At 280 grams, a female is nearly twice the weight of her mate at 160 grams—one of the most extreme size gaps in any raptor pair. This sexual dimorphism isn't random: the larger female can incubate eggs and defend the nest while the smaller, faster male hunts almost constantly to provision the family.
• They hunt on the wing in loose flocks of 10 to 50 birds, working the skies like a coordinated team, which lets them catch birds that solitary falcons would miss. This social hunting behaviour is rare among falcons and hints at how hunting pressure during migration season rewards cooperation over competition.

At a glance

About the Eleonora's Falcon

As the sun begins to set over the Mediterranean, the Eleonora's Falcon takes to the skies, its sleek, dark silhouette slicing effortlessly through the warm, golden light. With a fluid, almost ethereal motion, it banks and turns, its long, pointed wings beating in a slow, hypnotic rhythm as it pursues its prey, a mesmerizing dance of predator and quarry played out against the vibrant hues of the evening sky. In this fleeting, crepuscular world, the Eleonora's Falcon reigns supreme, a master of the twilight hunt, its very existence a testament to the beauty and wonder of the natural world.

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