Hobby (Falco subbuteo)
Measurements: 0.30-0.36m long; wingspan 0.82-0.92m.
Id: Distinctive Kestrel-sized falcon with relatively short tail and narrow, pointed wings; often recalls large, slow moving Swift in flight. Dark slate-grey above and heavily streaked below, with reddish thighs and prominent white cheek.
By Andy Morffew, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62001379
It is no coincidence that a distant Hobby is frequently mistaken for a Common Swift, because these two aerial, unrelated birds have much in common. Both have slim bodies, sickle shaped wings and relatively short tails. Both birds spend much of their time aloft, sweeping high and fast around the open sky. And both birds are very much summer visitors to Europe, arriving here only in the late spring, when insects start to become abundant.
On occasion the relationship is more direct, and a Hobby will actually catch and eat a Swift. This is quite a feat, for the Swift is fast, free-flying and highly manoeuvrable, and the Hobby is usually only successful if it can take its quarry unawares. And anyway, a Swift is a choice, irregular meal for a Hobby. It usually makes do with large insects such as dragonflies, beetles and moths, which it catches in its talons and consumes in flight.
By Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom – Eurasian Hobby (Falco subbuteo), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32940523
In late summer, though, when the chicks require meat to grow, the Hobby does switch mainly to catching birds. Open country species such as Swallows, House Martins, larks and pipits are the most common prey items, but almost anything will do. Laying its eggs in June or July, the Hobby times its breeding season to ensure that plenty of recently fledged youngsters are about when the chicks are growing fast.
In contrast to the other European insect specialists, the Red-footed Falcon and Lesser Kestrel, the Hobby is a solitary nester. This enables it to occur in areas where there are not enough insects to sustain the other species, including temperate and even Boreal parts of Europe.
From ‘Birds: A Complete Guide to All British and European Species’, by Dominic Couzens. Published by Collins and reproduced with permission.