Eurasian Hobby
"Doris"
This beautiful little lady was born in 2016 and is the second smallest falcon in the UK. She likes to range away when she flies and then come in at speed to try and catch us out.
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EURASIAN HOBBY FACTS
Falco subbuteo
TERRITORY/LOCATION
The Eurasian hobby occurs across Africa, Europe and Asia.
HABITAT
The Eurasian hobby typically inhabits relatively open areas with some trees, such as open woodland, forest or river edges, wooded savannah, cultivation or scrub with clumps of trees, scattered trees or copses, or fields with hedgerows. It is often found close to rivers or wetlands, and also sometimes occurs in more urban environments.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Least Concern
DIET
The diet consists mainly of flying insects, which are usually eaten in flight, as well as small birds, particularly swallows, martins and swifts. Other prey, such as bats and lizards, are also occasionally taken, and the hobby often follows fires or farm vehicles, which flush out prey, Hobbies are very fast and agile fliers and catch birds in flight. Not every attempt is successful, especially when Hobbies try to catch fast flying birds like swallows. Insects are normally eaten in flight.
SIZE/WEIGHT
This falcon is 29–36 cm in length with a wingspan of 74–84 cm and a weight of 131–340 g females being larger then the males.
NESTING
Hobbies nest in old nests of crows and other birds. The tree selected is most often one in a hedge or on the extreme edge of a spinney, whence the bird can observe intruders from a considerable distance. Breeding between May to August and lays 2–4 eggs. feeding its chicks on an abundance of dragonflies and fledgling birds.
LIFE EXPECTANCY
10 years old in the wild
15 years oldest recorded in the wild
At present the UK has about 2,800 pairs
SCIENTIFIC
CLASSIFICATION
KINGDOM
Animalia
PHYLUM
Chordata
CLASS
Aves
ORDER
Falconiformes
FAMILY
Falconidae
GENUS
Falco
SPECIES
F. subbuteo
