Hobby Observations & Nesting Dates (1 Viewer)

[halftwo]

Hi Joanne,
If you heard one or more calling then I would say you have a site.
Whenever I visit the action seems similar, but you need to spend an hour or more sometimes to be in with a good chance.
I assumed, wrongly, that it was the female I was hearing, but now know that the young call quite a lot too - especially when hungry - and their voice is very similar to the female's.
I've never knowingly heard the male.
H

 

[halftwo]

Aug. 16th.

Despite two hours at fairly close quarters I only saw the female today - but her loud mobbing pointed to the presence of the hidden young.

 

[halftwo]

Young Learn, Adults Show How

Spectacular and superb morning watch today; weather easing for two hours.

As I arrived and the rain stopped the male was on his usual perch. She was in the nest tree. Young unseen but heard begging.
Away he goes westward - she follows to a pylon and waits there. He's gone half an hour - but in the meantime another Hobby, distant, but stooping an arc only half a mile away, goes back north again. Another pair (as I've suspected) must have nested not far away!

He returns with prey (Martin or Swallow) which she takes from him mid flight. Then both young are flying around the tree and one lands on the ground, the other, calling, goes back around.
In the good light they are both orangy undered and their wings blunt-tipped compared to their parents.
The female comes in with the prey and takes it to the nest tree; one of the young gets it.
Within minutes the male is off south, then she follows. Both rise away - going for Swallows. He accelerates and - just out of sight - catches one. She has it within seconds and both return (noisily) to the pylon. She plucks and calls to the young, and again takes it to the tree. (Presumably) the other is now fed.

Again, within minutes, she is away - a rare event - female initiated hunt - and he is following. She has obviously seen prey far off (actually, looking at the map now, she could see the Swallows from 8-900 ms off; I could see them with binoculars!) as she makes a beeline westwards. Her speed increases to an impressive rate - and, just above tree top height she dives a parabola at a Swallow.
The Swallow eludes her but the male has a go - a tight arc that forces the prey back up - and the female has another go - another sweep of lightning.
The Swallow dives again - almost against the field and, typically, they are all lost to sight as the kill is made. The female Hobby has made the kill and both come back low to the pylon to perch.
For a while she sits still before she begins to eat. And before long he is off again in this frenzy of high octane activity.

The rain, as predicted, begins to hammer down again, but it cannot dent the elation from the preceeding show.

 

[joannec]

Another great account H....wish I could find hobbies like you!....been up to my local site again yesterday and only heard one call. (some other nice birds around like a family group of dartford warblers though.:t

Webcam hobby chick was in the nest this morning but has now gone!!!:t: Probably in the treetop branches out of camera range. Good news!

 

[halftwo]

Yes, Joanne, good news indeed after two chicks not making it.

 

[Himalaya]

Levant sparrowhawks bred in the UK?

I thin I have seen 4 hobbies over the last 2 months - all in a same 4 mile stretch, 3 sightings in a 2 mile stretch,

have found out that hobbies have bred for a fewy years in the area too. Will def keep my eye out - saw my first Merlin over a month ago. Hobbies are the onlly falcon on my list left (in the UK)

This evening I was at the Hobby's nest (see the attached pic). In 10 minutes no adult there, but I saw (at 100 meters from nest) this juv Levant Sparrowhawk...

Cristian

 

[halftwo]

Levant sparrowhawks bred in the UK?

Hi Himalaya,

Cristian lives in Bucharest, (Romania.)

H

 

[pie]

Spectacular and superb morning watch today; weather easing for two hours.

As I arrived and the rain stopped the male was on his usual perch. She was in the nest tree. Young unseen but heard begging.
Away he goes westward - she follows to a pylon and waits there. He's gone half an hour - but in the meantime another Hobby, distant, but stooping an arc only half a mile away, goes back north again. Another pair (as I've suspected) must have nested not far away!

He returns with prey (Martin or Swallow) which she takes from him mid flight. Then both young are flying around the tree and one lands on the ground, the other, calling, goes back around.
In the good light they are both orangy undered and their wings blunt-tipped compared to their parents.
The female comes in with the prey and takes it to the nest tree; one of the young gets it.
Within minutes the male is off south, then she follows. Both rise away - going for Swallows. He accelerates and - just out of sight - catches one. She has it within seconds and both return (noisily) to the pylon. She plucks and calls to the young, and again takes it to the tree. (Presumably) the other is now fed.

Again, within minutes, she is away - a rare event - female initiated hunt - and he is following. She has obviously seen prey far off (actually, looking at the map now, she could see the Swallows from 8-900 ms off; I could see them with binoculars!) as she makes a beeline westwards. Her speed increases to an impressive rate - and, just above tree top height she dives a parabola at a Swallow.
The Swallow eludes her but the male has a go - a tight arc that forces the prey back up - and the female has another go - another sweep of lightning.
The Swallow dives again - almost against the field and, typically, they are all lost to sight as the kill is made. The female Hobby has made the kill and both come back low to the pylon to perch.
For a while she sits still before she begins to eat. And before long he is off again in this frenzy of high octane activity.

The rain, as predicted, begins to hammer down again, but it cannot dent the elation from the preceeding show.

Amazing observations H. What a fantastic experience.

 

[halftwo]

Peregrine & Hobby Intruders, Swift Catch

Thanks, Pie. Indeed, these tend to remain imprinted in the memory. And today there was more!

Cold and wet and windy, wet bum and cold hands.

Strong winds kept nest side-activity low, but a female (possibly young) Peregrine caught my eye as she got up from the field, where she had been out of sight feeding (crop bulging) and onto a pylon nearby.
She sat peering around, looking huge.
Then the female Hobby was calling loudly, and got up to pursue another Hobby intruder. One of the juveniles flew around for a few seconds too - looking quite an accomplished flier now.
The female's alarm calls changed to a more wader-like "kilip kilip", interspersed with the usual "k-yee kyee kyee". The intruder took her time leaving, but eventually went off west.
The female returned to the nest tree and continued to call for a while (or maybe one of the youngsters did.)
This was watched all the while by the Peregrine just a few hundred metres away, and she stayed there as Magpies were harrassed by the Hobby near the nest tree. A shotgun's report put the Peregrine off to a nearby tree - she was showing a damaged left wing - perhaps an accident - one primary bent out of place.
As I watched the Peregrine the male Hobby - in typical sneaky fashion - had come in and was now on the perch tree.

A minute later and both parent Hobbies were up towards me - rising in the stiff breeze. Swifts had been passing fairly low for the last hour and within seconds the raptors were onto one.
At only a hundred metres away and similarly high, the chase began. I counted: one dive, missed; two dives, missed again. The Swift tried to get above the falcons - but to no avail. The male Hobby was just ahead and above - and now forced the Swift to dive again. A third arc at the prey, swerving away to let the female have a turn, she dives a fourth curve, accelerating on the swerving Swift. Another miss.
But now the prey was doomed and a quick (and I mean quick) re-group - put both falcons at speed on its tail. One (too damned fast to say which!) took it like a lightening strike and it was over. This whole hunt took a minute.
Though I changed position to watch the noisy approach to the nest - both got there without me seeing them! They must have come in at knee height to remain out of sight; but now I could hear noisy food distribution while the male sat atop the perch. Young and female hidden.

Thinking this would mean a lull in the action and as it was cold, I decided to return via the tree where the Peregrine had gone.
Five minutes later both Hobbies were above me again - back on the hunt in earnest. As I watched, at as close quarters as I had just seen them, the male Hobby stooped on an unfortunate Swallow that had passed under him.
As the falcon curved head down towards it the Swallow plummeted on closed wings. The Hobby arced away and the female then dashed at the prey - quickly closing the gap. It must be all over, I thought - but then she gave up to sweep back skyward.
The male again went for the Swallow - and, with impressive agility, the prey dodged away - but he didn't seem to have the heart for it either and seemed to let the Swallow go. Why? Not because they weren't hunting. Not because they couldn't have caught it. A mystery.
The falcons continued south and the male dashed down at hirundines not far away - picking up incredible speed as he went for a group - but now out of sight. I lost them both.

At the Peregrine's tree only Woodpigeons left at my approach - she too had sneaked away while I had been otherwise engaged.

 

[halftwo]

Aug. 20th. Family Fly Together

It took a while to realise this morning - all the Hobbies have up-camped to a few hundred metres away today.
The female was on a pylon - and obviously watching out for her mate's return. After twenty minutes she took off straight towards me - and, sure enough, he was approaching over my head. Once again, from some distance she could see his hunt had been successful.
As they closed he transferred the prey from one foot to the other (before this, it wasn't easy to see the prey neatly tucked under his tail - Martin presumably) and they met to transfer the meal claw to claw, she calling excitedly.
Again - could she see the prey - or tell from his flight that he had hunted well?
Back to the pylon to pluck; feathers drifting away on the slight air. All the while I could hear a youngster begging from the same direction - but could see nothing. Two Magpies were perching on bushes nearby.
Briefly the male took off after a small finch which passed the pylon - but soon gave up and returned.
Then the female took the prey to the ground beyond the pylon - out of sight to me. At least one of the young was amongst the stubble.
The male stayed on the pylon, resting, but soon left - unusually, north. Lots of hirundines began to panic in the direction he'd gone.
A Sparrowhawk (juv. male) came by - right over the young Hobby on the ground. I thought there'd be fireworks - but the Hobby just watched as the hawk began to tussle with the Magpies, circled around very low and went off. I wonder if the Magpies were, perhaps, waiting for scraps from the young falcons.
This was the second day I'd only, so far, seen one of the young Hobbies. I was getting anxious that one had succumbed - especially as the falcons were exactly where the Peregrine had been yesterday - feeding on the ground there.
But, meal consumed, and with the return of the male Hobby to mob a passing Buzzard, both young birds were now flying around together - calling constantly. For a few minutes they joined the male in the air as he harrassed the Buzzard, showing quite how well their aerial prowess had increased in the last week.
First one, then the other, landed back amongst the stubble - one just visible, the other just beyond the rise of the field. Mother kept watch.

 

[ed keeble]

It's such a pleasure to read these updates. On the point up-thread about a fifth bird, there are records of first summers not only being tolerated by adult pairs, but even helping the adult pair to raise young. I don't have the references to hand, but could root them out if of interest.

 

[halftwo]

Ed, thanks.
Yes, would be interested, that would be something else I didn't know.
So many questions raised as some are answered.
I've ordered a copy of "The Hobby" (you'd think I would already have one wouldn't you?)
to see what else I can glean.
H

 

[ed keeble]

Ed, thanks.
Yes, would be interested, that would be something else I didn't know.
So many questions raised as some are answered.
I've ordered a copy of "The Hobby" (you'd think I would already have one wouldn't you?)
to see what else I can glean.
H

That's almost certainly where I read it, so enjoy delving- it's a treasure trove.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Yesterday, in the evening (around half past 8) I saw two hobbies hunting bats (at 150 meteres from the old nest). I never saw one cathing a bat, but this is an usual behavior for the hobbies seen in this park.

Cristian

 

[halftwo]

Hi Cristian,
Excellent stuff, this has been recorded - but rarely seen, as far as I know.
I've seen them hunting Swallows at a roost in very poor light, but never bats.
H

 

[halftwo]

Aug. 21st: Border Conflict?

Weather much better than expected this morning. Just returned from a 10 a.m. to 11:30 watch.

As I got out there it was obvious that a Peregrine had just come by - a hundred Lapwings were in a tight ball high up - and gulls and corvids were rising high too. No sign of the falcon though.

As I got to within sight of the Hobby nest area the male was flying over towards it overhead. The female rose up, calling, to meet him, but he wasn't stopping and carried on, accelerating to the north.
I could see many hirundines in his flight line - he was among them in seconds. I think the female returned earthwards. He began to soar leisurely - hirundines swirling with him.
Then another Hobby - male I think - approached him rapidly - there was a brief arc of action, they appeared to touch, then one went off east, the other west.
Now, "my" male was on the edge of his territory where this took place (the nest tree seems to be much closer to the northern edge of their territory; their hunts usually head in other vectors) - and I guess he was being shown the door by the other, whose territory is to the north. The other male - probably the intruder I had seen being chased off from my hobbies' area on other occasions, continued west for about a kilometre - before I lost him as he stooped at distance.

The young Hobbies were perched near the nest - as usual fairly low down. They are often on or within five metres from the ground. Now a female Sparrowhawk flew close and put them up. All three flew without antagonism then went their separate ways. The Hobbies, calling, circled, locked talons briefly and settled in the field. The Sparrowhawk left to begin a hunt. I can't see any size difference between them, and if I were to guess, would say they are both female.

In the hour and a half I didn't see the parent birds again. Perhaps the young had been provided for already this morning and there was no need for food visits.

 

[halftwo]

Aug. 23rd. Sun!

Emperor dragonfly as I got up - sunshine!

As I arrived one of the young flew to perch on a fence wire, then to a post - typically low. The female was on the pylon nearby.
Ten minutes in and the male comes in with a meal, aerial pass to female - much noise as usual. She take the prey straight to the other young - out of sight low down somewhere.
The male doesn't land - just carries on and begins to soar until out of sight. The female soon left to have a half-hearted hunt - getting amongst the local House martins - but returned to the pylon again.

Then she was up and moving swiftly south - I heard then saw the male high up - chasing the intruding male off to the NW. Again he was making the "tillip" type calls. The intruder left. The female came back again to the pylon - where she was joined by a Kestrel, and later, one of the young.

Sparrowhawk soared with Buzzards and the day warmed nicely - dragonflies and butterflies flying.
The season's first Meadow pipits came by.

 

[pie]

Out of interest H, is a Sparrowhawk a threat to juv Hobbies?
Brilliant diary account.

 

[halftwo]

Hi Pie,

It would appear not from what I've seen.
The female, who does most of the nest site defending, doesn't seem to react to them at all - unlike Crows and Magpies - which get chased off most times. And Kestrels (as today) are very well tolerated too.
But I would think that a female Sparrowhawk could kill a juv. Hobby.
Apparently Hobbies have been known to steal food from Sparrowhawks.

I have just received my copy of "The Hobby" by Chapman. I would recommend it to any Hobby enthusiast. It has been nice to read that several observations I have made are borne out by others in the book - and some guesses I've made were right.
I'm now convinced that there is another pair breeding adjacent to my pair - to the north, so that means three pairs, at least, within 5 miles of my house.
In 1995 there were three known pairs in the whole county!

H

 

[halftwo]

Aug. 24th. Role Reversal

Both young were perched on the pylon as I approached this morning. A minute later the female had replaced one - which had dropped out of sight for a long while - seen occasionally flying low nearby.
The other juv. moved onto the same girder as the female and walked up to her, but she flew out of its way. It repeated this - sidling up to her - and eventually she moved to a higher spar and was left alone.
A Buzzard came past fairly low and the male chased it off (I don't know where he had been - but somewhere close obviously) - followed by one of the young.
The female then launched herself off the pylon and flew straight at me - getting bigger and bigger in my bins until I watched, as, just a few feet away, she arced over me and then resumed her rapid waist-high flight.
She continued in this hedge-hopping fashion until out of sight to the south.

This was the first time I'd observed her go off out of sight on her own. A few minutes later the male sneakd away - but the local hirundines gave his progress away as he left my sight.

Several minutes passed when the female came back from the north! She had flown a circuit to re-appear from the opposite direction.
The Swallows and martins rose up high to keep their distance - alarming as they had done before. She flew high around for a long time, getting a begging call from one of the young as she re-passed the pylon, then streaked away west again.

As the rain began to fall again both the parents were still away hunting.