Eleonora's Falcon

Description:

Eleonora’s falcons are medium-sized falcons, of similar length to peregrine falcons (F. peregrinus), but much lighter in weight and build. Like all other falcons, Eleonora’s falcons show reversed sexual size dimorphism, with females on average slightly larger than males. Males vary in length from 37 to 43 cm, females from 38.5 to 45.5 cm, and in weight, males range from 350 to 390 g, females from 340 to 460 g. The shortest wingspan measurement for an Eleonora’s falcon was 84 cm, while large females may have a wingspan of up to 103 cm. Eleonora’s falcons have long, narrow wings that exceed the tip of the long tail when folded. There are two color morphs, a light and a dark morph. Dark morph birds are all brown, and may appear black from a distance. The male’s cere is yellow in color while the female’s is blue-gray. Light morph birds are also dark brown above and buff to rufous below with dark streaking. The light morph also shows the typical dark moustache stripe. Range mass: 340 to 460 g. Range length: 370 to 455 mm. Range wingspan: 840 to 1030 mm. Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry ; polymorphic Sexual Dimorphism: female larger

Habitat:

Eleonora’s falcons commonly breed on the ground on small, rocky, undisturbed islands with little vegetation. On larger islands, such as Sicily and Sardinia, and on the mainland in Africa and Turkey, they seek inaccessible coastal cliffs to breed. They hunt over the open sea, as well as over wetlands, grasslands, and sometimes woodlands. Nest sites are found from sea-level to an elevation of 2,000 meters. Range elevation: 0 to 2000 m. Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; terrestrial Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest Aquatic Biomes: coastal Wetlands: marsh ; swamp