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Name : Eleonora ’s falcon ( Falco eleonorae )
Where it lives : Breeding in the Mediterranean and off the northwesterly coast of Africa , wintering in Madagascar
Some Eleonora’s falcons are known to keep other birds as live prey by pulling out their feathers and stuffing them in rocky prisons.
What it eats : worm , bats and small birds
Why it ’s awesome : The Eleonora ’s falcon is a small raptor that consider its hunt abilities to the next level — by catching its fair game alive and keeping them imprisoned . It trance small bird , strips their flight feathers preventing them from being able to fly , then overindulge them into rock scissure or mystifying holes , from which they can not fly the coop .
Strangely , only one population of Eleonora ’s falcon is know to partake in this unusual predatory behavior . The behavior was already known to local fishers , but ornithologists first described the search technique in 2015 after carrying out a nosecount of the species on the Mogador archipelago , off the west coast of Morocco .
A small bird believed to have imprisoned by an Eleonora’s falcon on the Mogador archipelago.
scientist think that by keep raspberry captive , the raptor can keep their food rootage unfermented until it ’s needed . While the absolute majority of the prey are small songbirds , they also eat swifts , hoopoo ( genus Upupa epops ) and some waders .
Related : The human - sized African bird that eats baby crocodile and down its siblings
The writer conceive this behavior is unique to the Mogador universe , having found no other reports of bouncy imprisonment among other Eleonora ’s falcon or bird of prey species .
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Their findings , however , were met with skepticism by some . Rob Simmons , a behavioral ecologist at the University of Cape Town in South Africa , toldNew Scientistthe imprisoned hoot may just be escapees enshroud in rocks to avoid being kill .
All Eleonora ’s falcon consume birds during their nesting full point , between July and October . They prey on migrating chick that are tired from their prospicient journeys , catching them mid - flight . This feast helps the falcon and their immature prepare for their own migration to Madagascar . The rest of the year they prey mainly on insects such as dragonflies and butterfly .
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