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Species › Birds

Eleonora’s Falcon

Falco eleonorae

Order
Falconiformes
Family
Falconidae
Presence in the Strait
Migrant
Abundance
scarce
Protection in Spain
Special protection (List)
In Spanish
Halcón de Eleonora

35% of its open observations in the area are from August.

Photograph: Don Loarie, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length
36–42 cm
Wingspan
90–105 cm
Weight
350–400 g
050100LENGTH36–42 cmWINGSPAN90–105 cmcentimetres

Presence in the Strait

Scarce migrant (>20 post. migr.). Former breeder on Gibraltar until the beginning of the 19th Century; probably disappearing from the coast of Morocco at a later date.

Identification

Slim, delicate, with the longest tail of all falcons; acrobatic flier. Two morphs: pale and dark phases, pale morph commoner. The pale phase shows rusty-brown underparts, with white cheeks and throat.

Movements

Postnuptial migration is much more conspicuous. Peaks in 1st hf. April and 2nd hf. August. The birds that cross the area come from Atlantic colonies at Essauire (Morocco) and Lanzarote (Canary Islands) travelling across the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea to their wintering sites in Madagascar and other islands in the Indian Ocean. Falconidae ad. ad. juv. Halcón Peregrino ad. Halcón Borní Halcón de Eleonora forma oscura forma clara dark morph pale morph Rapaces en vuelo 0 50 100 150 cm. Buitre Negro p. 110 Buitre Leonado p.110 Águila Real p. 116 Alimoche Común p.108 Águila Imperial p.116 Águila Perdicera p. 118 Culebrera Europea p. 120 Águila Pescadora p. 122 Milano Real p. 106 Milano Negro p. 106 Busardo Moro Busardo Ratonero p. 120 p. 120 Raptors in flight 0 25 50 75 100 cm. Abejero Europeo Águila Calzada p. 106 p. 118 parte superior parte inferior upperpart underpart Azor Común p. 114 Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental p. 112 Gavilán Común p. 114 parte superior parte inferior upperpart underpart Alcotán Europeo p. 124 Aguilucho Pálido p. 112 Halcón Peregrino p. 126 Cernícalo Vulgar p. 124 parte superior parte inferior upperpart underpart Halcón de Eleonora p. 126 Cernícalo Primilla Aguilucho Cenizo p. 124 p. 112 Elanio Común p. 108 Esmerejón p. 122

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Gallery

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.