Eleonora's Falcon (Falco eleonorae)


The post "Eleonora’s Falcons at Essaouira, Morocco imprison live birds to keep them fresh for a later meal" is now located at MaghrebOrnitho.

Comments

  1. Wow, interesting. Never heard of this behavior in any falcon before and never remember seeing it mentioned in Harmut Walter's book on the Eleanor's Falcon.

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  2. Just amazing. Evolution baby...

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  3. Other falcons commonly cache dead--but uneaten--prey in nooks in order to continue hunting. This may be a logical extension of that behavior?

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  4. I think they are cashing live birds that have been disabled for easy catching latter and not putting them in holes. The bird themselves are seeking places to hide.

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  5. Three years ago we had similar experience ringing Peregrine chicks (in Hungary). A disabled starling was pressed in a crack near the nest.

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    1. Very interesting, did you observe the Peregrine pressing the Starling in the crack or you found it there later? Can you please elaborate more on this, thanks.

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  6. Great observation! The Moroccan colonies of Eleonora's Falcon are ideally located for intercepting bird migrants. The falcons catch more birds than their young can eat; so they cache them near the nest and often leave them there for good. The cache site begins to smell because of the decaying prey. I also have repeatedly seen birds caught by the falcons escaping from their captors before the falcons landed on the ground. The falcons forgot to kill them after capture. Because of this evidence I would like to suggest that any live prey near the nest is the result of accidental survival after capture, plucking and caching.
    Hartmut Walter

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment. It's an honour that one of the pioneers who have published works about this species commented on this observation on our blog.

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