Breeding biology of the Eleonora’s falcon, Falco eleonorae within the Galite archipelago

Abstract

This study was carried out at Galite archipelago over two consecutive breeding seasons (2014 and 2015). We investigated the breeding ecology of Eleonora’s falcon population in Galite archipelago by providing detailed data on its breeding biology and assessing the nesting parameters. Overall, 127 Eleonora’s falcon breeding pairs were recorded in all six islets of the archipelago. The eastern part of the archipelago hosted the highest number of breeding pairs with the highest density recorded at Gallo island (5.93 pairs/ha). Eleonora’s falcon breeding pairs mainly used the protected crevices non-exposed to sun and wind. The overall mean clutch size (mean ± SE) was 1.78 ± 0.10 eggs per clutch. Clutches of two eggs and one egg were the most frequent at Gallo and Fauchelle, respectively. The average hatched eggs per clutch and fledglings per brood were 1.29 ± 0.10 and 1.24 ± 0.10, respectively. The brood size varied significantly with clutch size and nest exposition being higher related to not exposed nest and two as the clutch category was greater. Likewise, the number of fledglings significantly increased with increasing clutch category and was higher in not exposed nests. In fact, hatching or fledging probability increased significantly as nests were not exposed.