Hobby (bird)

Common card · No. 412160

A hobby is a fairly small, very swift falcon with long, narrow wings. There are four birds called "hobby", and some others, which although termed "falcon"⁠, are very similar. All specialise in being superb aerialists. Although they can take prey on the ground if the opportunity presents itself, most prey is caught on the wing; insects are often caught by hawking, and many different birds are caught in flight, where even the quick-manoeuvring swifts and swallows cannot always escape a hobby. The typical hobbies are traditionally considered a subgenus; as the Eurasian hobby (F. subbuteo) is the type species of the genus, this is subgenus Falco Linnaeus, 1758, though sometimes cited by the synonym Hypotriorchis Boie, 1826. The species share similar morphology; the wings are long and slender with a swift-like shape, and the tail is relatively short (compared to other falcons like kestrels); they have ample amounts of dark slaty grey in their plumage; the malar stripe is black; and the underside...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Andy Morffew from Itchen Abbas, Hampshire, UK, CC BY 2.0