Breeding Hobby

I have mentioned spending my time in August with a scarce late breeding bird and now is time to reveal that it was Hobby in Maridalen – maybe not the species you were hoping for but a very exciting experience for me.

Hobby (lerkefalk) is a species that I see in Maridalen annually and have often wondered why it doesn’t breed as the habitat seems good, there can be no shortage of nest site (old crows nests are a favourite) plus there must also be enough food (large flying insects and small birds). After recent experiences though I should perhaps have wondered why I couldn’t find where they were breeding as they can clearly breed right under our noses without us (me) realising.

I first suspected breeding last year when I had a vocal pair on 4 June in a small wood (where I found a crows nest) and at least one bird again the next day but they then disappeared and I didn’t have anymore sightings until the middle of August and then at the beginning of September came across three youngsters 2km away from the June sightings that were clearly very recently out of the nest (wings not fully grown). They hung around together in the same place for 3 days and although I never saw an adult feeding them I felt quite sure they had not travelled far at all. This year I have been in the same rough area many times and have had an eye out for Hobby but didn’t see one there until 1 August (although did have 3 sightings elsewhere in Maridalen in May).

On 24 June though I heard a bird in this area that I was 99% sure was Hobby but failed to see one (Wryneck or Lesser Spotted Woodpecker being the other options). I heard the same call in the same area on 29 July and was now certain it was Hobby but again failed to see one. When I heard the call again on 1 August I decided I had to find the bird and this time it was much easier. A Hobby was sitting in a tree top, another then flew low over the wood and then all hell broke loose when a third bird appeared (I never got a proper ID on this bird and was most likely a young Sparrowhawk although could also have been a Hobby) and was quickly chased away. I went to where the birds were and one (the female) was clearly keeping watch from a tree top. I stayed for a while and when another bird (the male) appeared there was a lot of calling and at one stage I saw the female fly up to him and saw what must have been a food pass. I didn’t find the nest though until the male later appeared calling and landed a bit away from the female. I scanned and scanned and eventually found a nest but it was empty. Soon after though I heard quiet calling and this led me to another tree with a very small, flimsy old nest high up in it and there was a downy head sticking over the rim! Eventually I saw there were two large but still downy Hobby young in the nest.

All this makes me quite sure that Hobbies have been breeding in Maridalen (at least occasionally) for many years and I even have the odd sighting that would support them breeding in the same wood for many years and now feel certain that this is where they bred last year.

After finding the nest on 1 August I visited on almost a daily basis and the first youngster left the nest on 6 August and the other the next day. After this they stayed in the wood where the nest was until I had my last sighting of a single juvenile on 29 August. With a fledging period of ca.30 days then the eggs hatched around 7 July and with an incubation period of also ca.30 days then egg laying was around 7 June.

I got to see quite a lot of interesting behaviour although due to the birds spending most of their time within the wood rather than on the edges then it was very frustrating when the birds were flying around as I would frequently lose sight of them.

They called an awful lot and when the young were in the nest the female always kept guard from a nearby tree top and would often scream as though she was trying to let the male know it was time to come with food. When the male appeared with food then there was a lot of noise including from the young. I saw him bring birds that looked to be Swifts twice but it was often not possible to see what he came with. They seemed unconcerned with my presence except for one occasion when the young had been out of the nest only 3 days and an adult suddenly dived at me and pulled up at only the last moment.

By 22^nd August the young were quite accomplished fliers and I saw them circling high up above the wood, tussling with each other and catching flying insects with their feet.

 

I present a lot of pictures which hopefully show the progression of the juveniles plus some behaviour. There are also 4 videos. A sequence taken on my phone where you mostly hear the birds, a compilation from the bazooka where the colour has been ruined by my PC and 2 videos from the superzoom which are the raw unedited file as my PC will no longer allow me to edit these files. I see now that my videos from the last couple of months have all had the wrong colours but cannot work out what is causing the problem - time to finally buy a new PC me thinks. 

1 August

the (presumed) adult male with a cleaner pattern of white and black on the cheek than the female

same bird

the nest

1 still quite downy young

both young

2 August

the female with slightly muckier cheeks and less demarked edges

and the male again

4 August

note all the discarced downy feathers around the nest

5 August

one of the young seemed to be a bit more advanced than the other and here it is already perching on a branch above the nest

adult arrives with food (the feeding can be seen in the second video higher up)

7 August

I only found one of the young perched in the same tree as the nest

a nice mohican

8 August

the young had both moved a bit away from the nest and I saw one in flight between trees

always an adult keeping lookout

9 August

adult in juv in same tree

note how short the wings still are. In adults the wing tip projects beyond the tail as shown in the next picture

11 August

adult male

18 August

the young had by now moved about 100m from the nest

19 August

the first time I had seen both young together since they left the nest. As time went on they sat more openly and higher up in trees making it easier to find them

here they were watching a family party of Jays (nøtteskrike) that were moving noisly through the wood

20 August

the male brings a bird (Swift?) and the young flew up. I did not see what happened but there was a lot noise and I believe the male may have dropped the bird for a youngster to catch

one of the young in flight

22 August

this the day the young were very active in flight going high up, playing with each other and catching insects

here one of the young with an adult

here the wing tips point out beyond the tail suggesting the wings are now fully grown

giving a bit of a Red-footed Falcon vibe

interesting how the 2 sentral tail feathers are dark whilst the others are barred

catching and eating dragonflies

a discarded piece of the insect can be seen falling

25 August

juv and adult below

the 2 juveniles and an adult higher up

the 2 juveniles

26 August

27 August

the last time I saw both juveniles who by now were sitting openly in the tree tops full of confidence for the long migration to southern Africa ahead of them

30 August

my last sighting of a single juvenile flying alone on the edge of the breeding wood