撰文者：廖珮岑
燕隼是一種飛行姿態很像放大版雨燕的小型猛禽，尤其天氣好，飛得很高形成一個小點時，看起來更是如此。
平日燕隼喜歡捕抓大型昆蟲來吃，在亞洲的紀錄中，除了昆蟲，牠們也會在晨昏時間捕食蝙蝠。不過在繁殖季節時特別喜歡以中小型鳥類為食，尤其是雨燕。幾乎整個歐亞大陸都有燕隼繁殖的紀錄，牠喜歡在開闊林地，利用高大樹木或是電塔上的鴉科舊巢繁殖。
因為習慣拍翅飛行，較不需要依賴熱氣流，因此更容易進行長距離的跨水域遷徙，牠們的飛行路徑通常也不太需要拐彎抹角，尤其在穿越海洋、沙漠，甚至是熱帶雨林時，由於較難覓食或停棲休息，會全速前進。也因為這樣的特性，牠們不太會沿著同一條路徑集體遷徙，大家各走各的，給人「一路直直衝」的印象。
關於亞洲遷徙路徑的研究很少，屏科大鳥類生態研究室與台灣猛禽研究會曾合作，在救傷野放的燕隼身上綁上衛星發報器追蹤。那隻燕隼從高雄出海後，跨越南海，沿著陸地飛行來到緬甸，在緬甸逗留幾天後，全速前進，穿越孟加拉灣，只花了兩天時間就登入印度，雖然最後訊號斷了，但已經足以看出牠在海上迅速飛行的高超本事。
延伸閱讀
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