Eurasian Hobby

• GeneralIt takes swifts and swallows in flight, and uses the abandoned nests of crows.
• It builds no nest: more than 90% of those it occupies were put up by carrion crows. In recent years it has increasingly bred in crow nests on electricity pylons.
• It is a raptor that breeds deliberately late, so that its chicks coincide with the peak of dragonflies and of other birds' fledglings.
• The woodpigeon often nests close to its nests: since the hobby is very aggressive towards crows, it serves as an escort.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat & environment

Copses, riverside woods and open farmland

Birth weight

Born semi-altricial, covered in white down and with its eyes already open

Size at birth

Semi-altricial: covered in white down, with its eyes open, but dependent for weeks

Sexual maturity

2 years

Gestation / incubation

28-33 days, mainly by the female while the male hunts. The chicks leave the nest at 28-34 days

Litter / clutch size

3 eggs as a rule (occasionally 2, rarely 4), matt yellowish brown and finely speckled. A single clutch a year, usually in June

Sources consulted: SEO/BirdLife (ficha y III Atlas de las aves en época de reproducción en España); IUCN Red List; Asturnatura; Palacín y Sergio 2022, III Atlas; Palacín 2016; Rodríguez y Palacín 2018

Best time: From April to September; it hunts mainly at dusk, when the insects and the swifts come out