Red vanturel | Facts & Information

Origin

It has no preferential habitats, being found from plain to heights of 4,500 m.

The red vanturel migrates in winter from cold temperate areas to the south. From our lands they leave in the colder years, through august-September, to the North and Central Africa (in mild winters, males can winter with us); they return in early spring.

It is a bird that prefers wide spaces: fields, derelict places, scrubs, swamps.

Globally the species is not in danger, the population remaining at a constant number of pairs, about 1-2 million, of which 20% are in Europe, although in some periods the number has been decreasing due to the use of pesticides.

Food Red Vanturel

Like most birds of prey, the Red Eagle does not have a highly developed field of vision and is therefore unable to spot small prey from a great distance. It is a diurnal bird that hunts large insects (grasshoppers), mice, frogs, lizards, but also, less often, small birds.

It is specific to the stationary flight, achieved by rapid wing beats ("flight of the Holy Spirit"), at about 7-15 m from the ground, during which it lurks its prey, leaving then suddenly on it. The name of vanturel ("the wind blows !") I is drawn precisely from this kind of flight.

Another hunting technique is to stand perched on tree branches or Poles for a few moments, surveying the terrain, and at the sight of the prey, to pounce on it.

They also search for an island of grass and, flying at ground level, hunt prey with which they happen to intersect.

It makes about 4-8 flights a day. It is known that he can make several successive flights. Caught prey is stored for later consumption. One chicken consumes 67-68 g, equivalent to 3-4 flights per day.

Features Red Vanturel

It is one of the small Hawks, having a waist of 30-35 cm, but with wings spread reaches 65-80 cm. The female has larger dimensions: if the male has an average weight of 155 g (maximum 250 g), the female reaches 300 g (average 185 g). He is smaller compared to other raptors.

Like other falcon species it has long wings and a distinctive, long tail. Plumage is mainly brick-bright with blackish dots on the back and yellow-brown on the abdomen. The bill is grey-blue, and the casus (waxy structure at the base of the beak) and the thin ring around the eyes are light yellow.

The legs are also yellow. Unlike most raptors, the red vanturel appears sexual dimorphism which is more evident in terms of color. The male has chestnut-brown upperparts dotted and striped with black (it has fewer points than the female), and the cap and tail are grey-blue.

The tail has a single black stripe at the edge. The chest and belly are brown with black dots. The female is darker in color than the male, has the plumage above light brown with black dots, located in semicircle, more frequent and more than the male, and the wings and bottom are with black stripes.

Along the tail are alsohe, black stripes. In both sexes the tip of the tail is black with a narrow white border. Juveniles are similar to adult females, but the stripes on the abdomen are wider; the yellow of the bare parts is paler.

Breeding Red Vanturel

They do not build their own nests, but use the abandoned ones of gaits or crows from the tops of trees, rocks, bell towers or other tall buildings.

Between March and April the female lays 3-6 eggs which she hatches about a month, the male being responsible for bringing food to the Nest, a situation that is prolonged for a while after the chicks hatch. Then the chicks are fed by both parents. The family stays together for 4-5 weeks, during which time the chicks learn to feed and fly. The chicks reach sexual maturity in the next nesting season.

The average life span is 2 years, with about 70% of red vanturei dying before the first year of life, but the biological duration from old age to death can reach up to 16 years. The recorded record is 24 years.

He also frequently hatches in our country. Being a migratory bird, it leaves at the beginning of winter, but returns quickly, in February or at the latest in early March.