Globe › Birds › Eurasian hobby
Eurasian hobby migration Falco subbuteo
▶ Follow the Eurasian hobby across the big globe
Press ▶ to play the year. Line: a simplified typical route, joining the main cluster of GBIF records in each month (adjusted for observer effort).
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| Scientific name | Falco subbuteo |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 74 cm |
| Adult weight | 181.5 g (male), 240.5 g (female) |
| IUCN status | Least concern |
| Records mapped | 638,461 (GBIF) |
| GPS / geolocator tracks | none with an open licence yet |
Facts from Wikidata Q25876 (CC0).
When does the Eurasian hobby arrive in the UK?
A summer visitor in the records: sightings rise sharply from late April, are near their peak by early May, and fall away after early October.
Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 57,820 UK records. Weekly counts from the GBIF occurrence search API (country=GB). Dates are read from records, not from a survey, so treat them as a guide.
When do they arrive in and leave the UK? →
Migration in the data
638,461 GBIF records (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 licences only) are mapped here, in 1.41° grid cells, month by month.
In Europe and Africa, the centre of the records (adjusted for observer effort) is furthest north in August (about 51°N) and furthest south in January (about 14°S).
More than half of the effort-adjusted signal there is south of the Equator in: January, February, March, November, December.
Month by month: centre of records in Europe and Africa
| Month | Centre (latitude) | South of the Equator |
|---|---|---|
| January | 14°S | 92% |
| February | 13°S | 93% |
| March | 1°S | 74% |
| April | 39°N | 5% |
| May | 47°N | 0% |
| June | 49°N | 0% |
| July | 51°N | 0% |
| August | 51°N | 0% |
| September | 47°N | 0% |
| October | 37°N | 6% |
| November | 4°S | 73% |
| December | 12°S | 91% |
Tracked birds
No openly licensed (CC0 / CC BY) tracking data package for this species was found in the Movebank Data Repository yet, so only records are shown.
About the Eurasian hobby
The Eurasian hobby, or just hobby, is a small, slim falcon. It belongs to a group of similar falcons often considered a subgenus of Falco.
From the Wikipedia article “Eurasian hobby” (revision 1366132077), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources
GBIF occurrence records, licence CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0 only, observations only (no specimens), filtered with: taxonKey=2481035&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&hasGeospatialIssue=false&basisOfRecord=HUMAN_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=MACHINE_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=OBSERVATION. Monthly queries: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec. GBIF.org (23 October 2026) occurrence data accessed via the GBIF API; a GBIF download DOI is still to be added. Contributing datasets.