The Oriental Hobby is a species of falcon

Falcon

A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....

 typically 27-30 cm long. It can be found in the northern parts of the Indian Subcontinent

Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...

, across the eastern Himalayas

Himalayas

The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

 and ranges southwards through Indochina

Indochina

The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...

 to Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...

. It has been recorded as a vagrant from Malaysia.

Diet and habitats

The Oriental Hobby feeds mainly on insects. Its typical habitats are lowland forested areas and woodland. It nests in used nest of other birds either in trees, on building ledges or on cliffs.

Identification

Adult is rich chestnut below, bluish-grey above with a black hood and pale throat. Juvenile has black streaks on its rufous chest and has a mottled back.

External links

• BirdLife Species Factsheet