From Opus

Male
Photo by Alan Manson
Near Mooi River, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, February 2009

Falco amurensis

[edit] Identification

Length 28-30 cm, mass 97-188 g; females larger than males. Cere, eye-ring and legs are red.

Male - slate grey, with a chestnut vent and white underwing coverts.

Female - grey on the top of the head, upperparts grey, underparts whitish, streaked and chevroned with black on upper breast and barred black on the lower belly.

Juvenile - similar to adult female but with rufous edging to feathers of upperparts.

[edit] Similar Species

Red-footed Falcon

Female Amur Falcon
Photo by rafo1
Masirah Airbase, Oman

[edit] Distribution

South-eastern Siberia and northern China, wintering in southern Africa.

[edit] Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species¹.

Amur Falcon has in the past been treated as conspecific with Red-footed Falcon.

[edit] Habitat

In breeding range: Woodland, forest, woodland margins and marshes, prefers mature trees. Winters in savanna and in grasslands with clumps of trees.

Juvenile
Photo by 1000miles
Mae Ping National Park, Lumpoon, Thailand, November 2007

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects, small birds and sometimes amphibians. It hunts from a perch and captures much of its prey on the wing; may hover.

[edit] Breeding

It nests in a hole in a tree or uses old corvid nests; 3-4 eggs are laid in May–June; the incubation period is about 28–30 days; the young fledge after about one month.

[edit] Reference

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2012. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2012. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Hockey, PAR, WRJ Dean, and PG Ryan, eds. 2005. Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa. 7th ed. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 978-0620340533
3. Birdforum thread discussing id features of immature male Amur Falcon compared to Red-footed Falcon
4. Answers.com

• List of references

[edit] Gallery

Click on images to enlarge

Male Photo by paux Guangxi, China, October 2012

Female Photo by paux Guangxi, China, October 2012

Juvenile Photo by Nolan.Hwang Tainan, Taiwan, 2010

[edit] External Links