Eleonora's Falcon

Copyright monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Alpes Maritimes, France • Sep 2010

Bird name: Eleonora's Falcon
Latin: Falco eleonorae
Other: Faucon d’Eléonore (Fr) • Halcón de Eleonor (Es) • Falco della Regina (It)
Family: Falconidae • Falcons
Range: Mediterranean islands mostly and some Mediterranean coastline

A couple of indistinct distant shots of what was probably quite a rare sighting of an Eleonora’s Falcon, three days ago, flying along the coast in the Alpes Maritimes.

Although Eleonora’s Falcon is thought to have a worldwide population of only about 4000 breeding pairs, and in Europe is found mostly on Mediterranean islands, with 650 pairs counted on the small Greek island of Tilos alone, about half a dozen Eleonora’s Falcons are recorded migrating near the French coast in the Alpes Maritimes in September every year. They head towards Spain and then Africa and spend the northern winter in Madagascar.