Hobby

The hobby (Falco subbuteo) is, as its Latin name suggests, a member of the falcon family of birds of prey, although its pointed, scythe-shaped wings make it look like a large swift in flight. It is a migrant to the British Isles, arriving from April onwards and leaving in September or October. The hobby breeds across most of England, except the north-west, and its range just touches Scotland and Wales.

Appearance

The hobby is about 20-35 centimetres (12-14 inches) in length, with the females being larger than the males. The plumage is, however, similar between the sexes. This comprises dark slate colouring above, although greyer on the tail, which is on the short side. The throat and sides of the neck are cream, with prominent dark “moustaches”. The chest and undersides of the wings are heavily streaked in grey and white, with reddish-brown further down and on the underside of the tail. The legs are yellow with black talons.

Behaviour and feeding

  

The hobby is a powerful flyer, able to made rapid accelerations and dramatic aerobatic manoeuvres as it chases its prey, which includes fast-moving smaller birds such as swallows and martins. The hobby’s courtship flight includes plunging, spinning, rolling and looping-the-loop. The hobby can glide and soar, but it rarely hovers.

The hobby also preys on large insects, such as dragonflies, which are taken and eaten in flight, held in one talon. When not in flight they can be seen as solitary birds perched on tree branches.

Breeding

Hobbies breed in open light woodland, field margins and pine clumps on downs and heaths. They are not nest builders, but take over the abandoned nests of other birds such as crows and buzzards.

Three eggs are laid, these being incubated by both partners for up to 28 days. For the first few days after the chicks hatch, the male hobby does all the hunting, passing the food to the female away from the nest, the female hobby then taking it to the chicks. The transfer of food often takes place in mid-air. Later on, both birds will hunt for food, with insects caught by the male hobby being fed to the chicks directly.

The young are voracious feeders, with food being brought to them every two or three hours. Should the food consist mainly of insects, the number of feeding visits to the nest is much greater. The young fledge at anything between 23 and 34 days, depending on the abundance of the food supply. The young birds will leave for their winter quarters in eastern and southern Africa in mid-August, several weeks before the parent birds, who will only raise a single brood in a season.

© John Welford