Hello Tweets,
Thanks to Dennis Paulson for the great article about Gyrfalcons hunting in the open ocean from sea ice. The article stimulated me to share what little bit I know about Eleonora's falcon, another falcon that often often hunts over the open water, but in this case closer to land over the Mediterranean Sea. I saw this species last spring on Mallorca, the largest of the Spanish Ballearic Islands, though the great majority of Eleonora's falcons breed on smaller Greek Islands to the east. The behavior of this species is unlike any other falcon that I know of : it winters primarily in East Africa and on the island of Madagascar and is a fairly late spring migrant to its breeding grounds in the Mediterranean. Recent information has shown that it migrates first over equitorial forest then over the Sahara Desert, where it feeds mostly on insects, especially dragonflies. Even though it arrives on its breeding grounds by mid-April and May, it delays breeding until late summer in order to specialize on fall (tired) passerine migrants that are often captured over the open ocean.
Happy Holidays,
Brien Meilleur
Chamb?ry, France