or escarpments. Diet The Australian hobby has been recorded preying on avian species including the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), house sparrow (Passer domesticus), crimson rosella (Platycercus elegans) and silvereye (Zosterops lateralis). Research suggests they tend to avoid large, dangerous, or agile species that forage close to cover, such as the common myna (Acridotheres tristis). Insectivorous bats and insects including beetles, cicadas, crickets and grasshoppers also form part of the hobby's diet. Behaviour Flight The hobby is a solitary and aggressive falcon using rapid flickering wing beats, with tail fanned when hovering. It glides on flat or slightly drooped wings with carpals flexed and outerwings swept back. Its flight is often characterised as low and fast, zig-zagging over or between vegetation and open ground. When engaged in territorial defence, hobbies have been observed soaring and circling to ward off other birds of prey e.g. little eagle (Hieraaetus morphnoides). Hobbies have also been observed attacking other perched raptors with steep stoops at vegetation and shallow stoops from behind for airborne raptors. Hunting The hobby is a widespread and common hunter that often hunts at dusk, diurnally and sometimes nocturnally by artificial light. Hobbies have been witnessed catching their prey in mid air, by direct attack from a perch or in fast contour-flying above or between tree canopies. It is acrobatic in the pursuit of prey and attacks fleeing birds in a series of short shallow stoops. They have also been recorded using a concealed approach when attacking shorebird roosts, flying towards them behind the cover of dunes, cliffs or trees. Hobbies have been known to harass larger birds but are not capable of killing them. Research has shown that Australian hobbies have one of the lowest prey-to-predator ratios (i.e., smaller prey relative to their body mass) because of the large number of insects in their diet. Breeding Nesting usually occurs any time between August to January where an old stick nest of another large raptor is commandeered. Three to four heavily blotched eggs are laid with incubation taking about 35 days. Successful broods usually comprise two to three young. The fledglings remain dependent for up to three months after which the young disperse or migrate widely. Studies have revealed the extent of the falcon's migration. In one case, a banded fledgling left its natal territory in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, and was recovered 29 days later in Brisbane, Queensland, approximately 1000 km