Description:

Small sized, slim, with long, pointed wings and medium-length tail. Adult has broad black moustachial stripe, cream underparts with bold blackish streaking, and rufous thighs and undertail-coverts. Juvenile has dark brown upperparts with buffish fringes and pale buffish heavily streaked underparts.

Distribution:

Common summer visitor to all the valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan, except for the eastern parts. Prefers open wooded areas of wooded steppes, pastures, cultivation or scrub with clumps of trees up to 4000m, resorts to more open areas post breeding.

Behavior:

Captures prey mainly in air; able to catch very agile birds due to fast, acrobatic flight. Pursuit technique varies according to maturity of prey; very active at dawn and dusk. Diet mainly insects, especially flying insects which are eaten on the wing, dragonflies, beetles, moths, grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, ants. Also many small birds, especially in breeding season.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Eurasian Hobby in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Eurasian Hobby

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.