Een uur uit het leven van een jonge Boomvalk Falco subbuteo

After an absence of 17 years, a Hobby pair was recorded breeding again in western Drenthe, this time in farmland (rather than heathland, where the species used to breed in the early 1990s). On 8 September 2012, a fledgling was observed for an hour (10.30-­11.30 h summer time). The age of the bird by then was estimated at 64 days. It was sitting on a post in grassland, some 150 m from the nest site in an oak in a hedgerow. During four sallies, it attempted to capture five dragonflies (four times successful;; three were eaten on the wing, one on the post). The adult male twice delivered a dragonfly, which were transferred to the young in the air claw to claw and then eaten on the wing;; prey transfer was a highly vocal affair. The young Hobby also approached a passing juvenile Kestrel Falco tinnunculus, which was pursued for some distance with rapid, shallow wing beats whilst persistently begging. After the first prey transfer from the male, and having returned to the sitting post, the young softly called ‘kjuw-­kjuw-­kjuw’ without interruption for 17 minutes.