Both falcons in northern Ethiopia

About a week ago, Ivato left what seemed to be his breeding location in Eritrea and headed south.  At the same time 130393 was steadily heading north through Ethiopia.  Surprisingly, these activities resulted in the two birds being only about 75 km apart on 29 May.  At that time they were both in northern Ethiopia, just inside the border south of the Tekese River.  We speculate that the reason these birds are here is because of abundant prey.  The juvenile, 130393, seems to be moving slowly through the area and it must be foraging while doing so.  Ivato may have rushed to his breeding area only to find that prey there was scarce.  The location of sooty falcon nests seems driven by the abundance of prey in autumn when they have chicks, but in most of these places prey levels are likely much lower in May - July. This, of course, is speculation on our part.

Locations of two sooty falcons fitted with PTT transmitters. 130393 is a juvenile reared in Oman.  135213 is an adult captured on its non-breeding grounds in Madagascar.