Aron Tanti

Medium-sized falcon with a long-distance migration strategy, with a large breeding distribution across Eurasia, from Spain to South Fennoscandia, to Siberia and China. The winter range extends across Africa, in savannas south of the Sahel, down to South Africa.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendStable
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		280000-437000,342000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Eurasian Hobby

The direction of observed movements within Europe is to the South, or slightly South-West, whatever the region of origin, suggesting that this falcon has a more or less direct migration route from a breeding ground to Africa. Tracked adults from Germany and Sweden wintered in southern Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe (Strandberg et al. 2009; Meyburg et al. 2011).

Recoveries by Condition for Eurasian Hobby

Dead recoveries dominate across time, though if they represented nearly 85% of data before 1990, this decreased to 63% afterwards – which is still a very high proportion.

Annual Movements for Eurasian Hobby

A tracked adult used a spring migration route 2,000 km farther west than that in autumn, forming a migration loop (Meyburg et al. 2011). Another tracking study of Swedish birds confirmed the autumn route to Libya / Algeria, down to Angola, with the equatorial rainforest representing an ecological barrier (Strandberg et al. 2009). The German bird spent 65% of the year in Africa; its migrations across the Sahara took 4 days, and its spring route passed by Gibraltar (Meyburg et al. 2011).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Eurasian Hobby

Most recoveries of birds from the all regions (North-West, West, North, Central) at more southern latitudes in Europe are from September and October, then April, so with no surprise these months are the main periods when hobbies are on the move in Europe. As an example, recoveries of British birds in the Pyrénées are around mid-October. In November, hobbies are away from Europe, but the recovery database still contain few winter recoveries unusual for the species. At Falsterbo, Sweden, adults migrated late August, juveniles peak in the first half of September (Kjellén 1992). In spring, most returns are noted between mid-April and mid-May.

Frédéric Jiguet

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Kjellén, N.1992 . Differential timing of autumn migration between sex and age groups in raptors at Falsterbo, Sweden. Ornis Scandinavica 23 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3676673) : 420–434
Meyburg, B.-U., Howey, P.W., Meyburg, C., Fiuszynski, K.D.2011 . Two complete migration cycles of an adult Hobby tracked by satellite. British Birds 104: 2–15
Strandberg, R., Klaassen, R.H.G, Hake, M., Olofsson, P. Alerstam, T.2009 . Converging migration routes of Eurasian hobbies Falco subbuteo crossing the African equatorial rain forest. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 276 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.1202) : 727–733

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