The landscape of Alegranza
The landscape of Alegranza
Monitoring the breeding population from Alegranza
Monitoring el Roque del Este
A pale female flying over the sea
The camp-site on Alegranza
Censusing the breeding population
Monitoring the breeding population from Alegranza
Monitoring the coast of Alegranza
Alegranza has a very heterogeneous landscape
Censusing breeding pairs
Eleonora’s falcons often dismember their prey while flying
A pale female sitting near her nest
A dark female sitting near her nest
A pale female
A flying dark male
Monitoring Alegranza
An impromptu laboratory. Here, looking for seeds in the hunted preys’ digestive tracts
Eleonora’s falcons breed on sea cliffs as well as on hillsides and ravines
Getting dark on Alegranza
The island is full of flowers after the rains
Pale female
Pale females have creamy cheeks and their cere and eye rings are blue-greenish
Maintaining balance
Monitoring Alegranza
Every year, we ring fledglings from all accessible nests
Monitoring Alegranza
Dancing on the mountains
Some nest-sites are difficult to reach
Eleonora’s falcons’ nest-sites are mainly located in caves, but also under bushes and in crevices
A dark fledgling
Eleonora’s falcons usually lay 1-3 eggs, rarely 4. In this case (2010) the four nestlings, all of dark morph, successfully fledged
Eleonora’s falcons usually drink and bath in fresh water sources near the breeding colonies
A flying dark male holding a prey in his talons
Dark female
A fledgling of pale morph
Releasing a GPS-tagged falcon
Recapture of a female to remove an old GPS-tracker
Fledglings of 35-40 days old, almost ready to flight
Intraspecific predation is a common phenomenon under periods of food scarcity
Other vertebrates (Gallotia atlantica) take advantage of famines killing Eleonora’s falcons
Plastic rings also help identifying who predated which nestlings
Females often predate nestlings from neighbor nests, but cannibalism is also frequent among siblings
Getting dark on Alegranza
Gallery 2017
Gallery 2018
Gallery 2019
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Gallery 2020
Eleonora's Falcon 