While raptor watching at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens on Saturday I snapped these poor images of a large falcon. It unfortunately did not hang around and was last seen heading south in the direction of Cecilia Forest. My suspicions, and the opinions of a couple of raptor experts, point towards Eleonora’s Falcon. Does anyone else perhaps have an opinion regarding its identification?
David Winter
GetBirding.com 
It looks to me like a peregrine falacon,
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I am by no means an expert, especially not with tricky raptors! However, having consulted my raptor books, I would place my bet on a Lanner Falcon, maybe a juvenile? The underwing & tail are quite dark and the tail terminates in a distinct WHITE bar while Eleanor’s Falcon’s tail terminates in a DARK bar – though I’m not sure this is a great distinguishing feature! If it proves to be an Eleanor’s Falcon it will be a very rare sighting indeed! Good luck with the ID!
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Saw this bird only once in my lifetime in the eastern part of Zim.It however looks very much like a Eleonoras Falcon.The long tail and the light and dark difference of the underwing.
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Hello David,
It looks like a light phase Eleanora’s but there seems to be an unusual jizz. Not having seen this bird myself, of course, this could just be a visual problem.
Best regards
Paul
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Thanks for your comments everyone. It seems there are a variety of views that include Eleonora’s, Lanner, European Hobby and Peregrine.
Here are some comments from the raptor guru Dick Forsman:
“I can only agree with you, that the bird in the image is a young dark morph Eleonora’s Falcon. The falcon is young because of its prominent white tail-tip and trailing edge to the wing. Identifying it as an Eleonora’s is to push it a bit, as some juv Hobbies can look extremely similar when viewed against the light and in slightly blurred images like this. However, in this case I believe, that what we see is also the actual truth.”
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This morning I had a sigthing over the Alphen Greenbelt in Constantia of a raptor who initially I took to be a Yellow Bill Kite but then noted absence of V in the tail. Tail closer to that or a Lanner but wings like Eurasian Hobby ( page 208 Newmans ) but then looking at clips on Utube of Eleonora’s Falcon the similarities were remarkable. Can it be that we have a Eleonora’s Falcon in the Kirstenbosch / Constania area ?
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Hi Gavin.
Eleonora’s Falcon is rather rare in southern Africa so any sightings are likely to be of birds passing through the area rather than resident individuals.
Thanks for your note.
Regards,
David.
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