La plaine de Passy, un site régulier pour le Faucon kobez au printemps

The Alps constitute an important obstacle for migrants: they have to fly over the valleys to cross them, like the Arve valley (Haute-Savoie, France), that allows birds to reach the Upper Rhone valley in Switzerland through the Forclaz Pass.
During its journey, the river has created a small alluvial plain called the Plaine de Passy: with its prairies and its cereal fields, its an interesting area for typical bottom valley species. But this spot is above all attractive in Spring for birders, from the end of April to the end of May as it is a regular stop-over spot for Red-footed Falcons as they come from Southern France and go to their Eastern breeding grounds.
And this spring 2008 was really good, as it was elsewhere in Eastern and Southern France (read our article: Pourquoi voit-on des Faucons kobez au printemps en France?). Julien Heuret transmitted us some photos of Red-footed Falcons taken in May 2008.