This falcon is breeding in large colonies on rocky islets of the Mediterranean, along the Atlantic coast of Morocco and on the Canary islands. It is wintering in south-eastern Africa and Madagascar. The total population of the European Union is estimated at 3500-4000 breeding pairs, which represents 80-90% of the world population of this species. In some areas an increase has been reported, elsewhere a decrease.
The range of Eleonora´s Falcon coincides almost completely with the Mediterranean basin. Breeding sites are distributed between the Canary Islands in the west and Cyprus in the east. The centre of the species range is the Aegean islands and Crete, which hold about 70 % of the world population. Whilst the wintering grounds are in Madagascar and for a fraction of the population probably in Tanzania, too, migration data are sketchy. Population trends on a historical scope are not available. From the Balearic Islands a yearly increase of 4 % has been recorded recently, in Italy there seems to be an increase of 10% in ten years, whereas a 15 % decline has been noted in Crete in the past decade. In Madagascar, the species appears to have decreased in 1991-97. Southern France and Corsica, Malta, Albania, and Turkey and to a lesser degree Portugal and Bulgaria are visited regularly by a substantial part of the falcon population during April-October although there are no breeding colonies near-by.

Eleonora´s Falcons nest at the seaside, on steep cliffs as well as on flat quiet islets if there are corners with shade for most of the day as can be found on islets of limestone or volcanic geology. Some nests may be under e.g. Euphorbia bush or can even be completely exposed to the sun, a critical situation in case of disturbances. In the pre-breeding months, some adults roost in the breeding cliffs, others stay away for several days. The feeding areas in spring/summer can be more than 20 km away from the breeding site. They must consist of sufficient agriculture, forest, and wetland areas to support the population of a colony with insects from April till August, offer access to fresh water and quiet communal roosting sites (trees) for overnight stays in April to July. This feeding area may well extend over 1000 sq. km for a single colony.

Eleonora´s Falcons nest at the seaside, on steep cliffs as well as on flat quiet islets if there are corners with shade for most of the day as can be found on islets of limestone or volcanic geology. Some nests may be under e.g. Euphorbia bush or can even be completely exposed to the sun, a critical situation in case of disturbances. In the pre-breeding months, some adults roost in the breeding cliffs, others stay away for several days. The feeding areas in spring/summer can be more than 20 km away from the breeding site. They must consist of sufficient agriculture, forest, and wetland areas to support the population of a colony with insects from April till August, offer access to fresh water and quiet communal roosting sites (trees) for overnight stays in April to July. This feeding area may well extend over 1000 sq. km for a single colony.
Eleonora´s Falcons typically breed in colonies of 10-300 pairs. Nests are spaced 20-50 m apart, but cases of only 2 m nest distance are known. Lowest nests are at an altitude of about 5 m, i.e. just enough so that they are not washed away by high waves of the sea, while others are at the top of a cliff more than 100 m high. Nests can be distributed for several kilometres along a cliff or may be concentrated on uninhabited islands of 1-100 ha in size. Age of first breeding is at 2-3 years. Although this falcon returns to the Mediterranean in the second half of April, colonies are visited irregularly until intensive courtship in July begins. 1-3 (in the west up to 4) eggs per nest are laid during the second half of July and the chicks hatch one month later, a few as late as 10-15 September. They fledge 40 days later, so by mid October almost all young can fly. In the first days of November colonies are deserted. Egg losses under natural conditions can amount up to 43 % ( 25 % rat predation, 10 % infertility, 8 % due to sun irradiation in an undisturbed colony) and chick losses up to 10 %, respectively. A breeding success of 1.2 fledgling per started nest is needed for sustaining a colony.

This falcon catches prey only in the air and is not capable of pursuing small birds in the vegetation. It feeds on large insects such as beetles, locust, dragonflies, butterflies, moths, cicadas, and flying ants, occasionally bats or in April/May a few migrating birds along the shore line. With the onset of the autumn migration from Europe to Africa, Eleonora´s Falcon changes its diet and catches migrating birds above the sea. Typical size of birds caught is 10- 30 g. The world population of this falcon takes about 0.1 % of the total migrant flow. Eleonora´s Falcon is a sensitive indicator of the general environment: on the one hand, colony size and egg production are indicative of local farming and forest activities; on the other hand, standardised plucking collection and analysis (Ristow et al. 1986) during the chick rearing period reveals general environmental conditions in the European breeding areas or African wintering quarters of the prey species.

This species has a large global range; the total size has not yet been quantified, but the Extent of Occurrence in Africa alone is estimated to be 63,000 km². The European population has been estimated to be 12,000 individuals (BirdLife International in prep.). Global population trends have not been quantified; there is evidence of a population decline (Ferguson-Lees et al. 2001), but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Migratory. Summer visitor to Mediterranean and north-west Africa; absent November-March. From all colonies, including those on Atlantic coast of Morocco, migrates eastwards in autumn through Mediterranean and down Red Sea to winter quarters in East Africa and (especially) Madagascar; returns by reverse route in spring. A few Mediterranean records in March, but first arrivals there usually second half April and main arrivals May to early June. Northward movement still occurring Red Sea in May. Young fledge late September and first half October, and emigration occurs soon afterwards. Last dates Cyprus usually late October to early November

article number 1 Title
Flight performance during hunting excursions in Eleonora's falcon Falco eleonor
Author(s): A Hedenstrom, M Rosen, S Akesson, and F Spina
Abstract: Among birds, falcons are high-performance flyers, in many cases adapted for rial hunting and hence suitable targets for investigating limits to flight performance. Using an optical range finder, we m..[more]..
Source: The Journal of Experimental Biology 202, 2029-2039 (1999)
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article number 2 Title
The study of nest-site preferences in Eleonora's falcon Falco eleonorae through digital terrain models on a western Mediterranean island
Author(s): G. Urios and A. Martinez-Abrai
Abstract: This study addresses nesting-site preferences in Eleonora's falcon Falco eleonorae by means of geographic information systems and high-quality high-resolution digital terrain models (DTMs). A small we..[more]..
Source: J Ornithol (2006) 147: 13-23
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article number 3 Title
Soaring Flight in the Eleonora's Falcon (Falco eleonorae)
Author(s): Mikael Rose and Anders Hedenstrom
Abstract: Eleonora's Falcon (Falco eleonorae) breeds in the Mediterranean region and is highly adapted for catching small birds on passage migration between Eurasia and their African winter quarters, which ..[more]..
Source: The Auk 119(3):835-840, 2002
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article number 4 Title
Is growing tourist activity affecting the distribution or number of breeding pairs in a small colony of the Eleonora's Falcon?
Author(s): A. Martínez-Abrain, D. Oro, V. Ferrís & R. Belenguer
Abstract: Is growing tourist activity affecting the distribution or number of breeding pairs in a small colony of the Eleonora's Falcon?- Human disturbance is a common threat for species of conservation concer..[more]..
Source: Animal Biodiversity and Conservation 25.2 (2002)
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