Data and R-code from: Migration, habitat and hunting style do not affect the malar stripe of different falcon species

The solar glare hypothesis suggests that malar stripe of a falcon decreases the sun’s glare in the eye, possibly increasing their hunting success. The amount of sunlight an individual experiences could be affected by its migratory strategy, hunting strategy, or main habitat. However, it is not known if these environmental variables impact the size and intensity of the malar stripe. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse differences in size and intensity of malar stripes between individuals of twelve falcon species with different migratory strategies, habitats, and hunting styles distributed worldwide. The malar stripes of twelve falcon species were measured and scored using more than 6000 photos from citizen science repositories. The measurements of the malar stripes were first reduced with a principal component analysis (PCA) and then analysed using a linear mixed model that included migratory strategy, habitat, and hunting style as fixed factors and several posture variables as random..., For this study, we compared the malar stripes of 12 falcon species with differing migratory strategies  (migratory, partially migratory, and sedentary), habitats (grassland, woodland, shrubland and forest), and hunting styles (aerial, insessorial and generalist). We used two online citizen science repositories, iNaturalist (iNaturalist, n.d.) and the Macaulay Library (Macaulay Library, n.d.), to get access to photos of the 12 different falcon species.
Table 1. The 12 falcon species included in this study with their migratory strategy, habitat, and hunting style.

Scientific name

English name

Migratory strategy

Habitat*

Hunting style

Falco amurensis

Amur Falcon

Migratory

Grassland

Insessorial

Falco columbarius

Merlin

Migratory

Woodland

Aerial

Falco naumanni

Lesser Kestrel

Migratory

Grassland

Generalist

Falco subbuteo

Eurasian Hobby

Migratory

Woodland

Aerial

Falco cenchroides

Australian Kestrel

Partially Migratory

W..., , # Data and R-code from: Migration, habitat and hunting style do not affect the malar stripe of different falcon species

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cc2fqz6gg](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cc2fqz6gg)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: dat\_total.csv

**Description:** Measurements and scores for different aspects of the malar stripe for 12 falcon species.

##### Variables

* ID: unique identifier for each photo
* Library: online citizen science repositories
* Eye_width_1: First measurement of eye width on the picture (in centimeters, cm hereafter)
* Eye_width_2: Second measurement of eye width on the picture (cm)
* Eye_width_3: Third measurement of eye width on the picture (cm)
* Eye_heigth_1: First measurement of eye height on the picture (cm)
* Eye_heigth_2: Second measurement of eye height on the picture (cm)
* Eye_heigth_3: Third measurement of eye height on the picture (cm)
* Width_template: Score of malar stripe width based on th...