A falcon that breeds on Mediterranean islands and coasts. Its young develop late in the breeding season, when migrating small birds are passing.
Individuals occur in pale and dark colour morphs.
Eleonora’s Falcons breed on islands in the eastern Mediterranean. At a colony on Paximada islet northeast of Crete, researchers analyzed prey feathers and remains collected from 1965 to 2001. Detailed samples came from 1969, 1971, 1977 and 1988.
The samples contained more than 110 bird species and over 13,450 identified individuals. Willow Warblers made up 27.8 percent of the prey. The remains show which migrating birds passed the island during the falcons’ breeding season.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
A 2021 survey of 29 islands in Greece’s Alonissos–Northern Sporades Marine Park found 329 active nests on 13 islands. Most nests were in cliff cavities 12–400 metres above sea level, making colony islands and nesting sites relevant to conservation.