From Opus

Photo by Erikat
Coronie District, Suriname, June 2003

Falco rufigularis

[edit] Identification

Female - 30.5 cm, male - 23 cm long male
Adult

• Black back, head and tail
• Creamy-white throat, upper breast and neck sides
• Black lower breast and belly finely barred white
• Orange thighs and lower belly
  

Young birds are similar but with a buffy throat.

[edit] Distribution

Central and South America: occurs in Mexico from southern Sonora and Tamaulipas southwards and through Central America to Panama; in South America breeds from Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and the Guianas south to west Ecuador and northern Argentina.

Resident.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• F. r. petoensis:

• Humid lowlands of northern Mexico to southern Ecuador (west of the Andes)

• F. r. rufigularis:

• Lowlands of northern South America to southern Brazil and northern Argentina; winters in Trinidad

• F. r. ophryophanes:

• Tableland of Brazil, adjacent Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina

Subspecies petrophilus is not recognised by all authorities^[2]

[edit] Habitat

Open woodland, forest edge and plantations, often near water.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

It feeds not only on bats but also on small birds and large insects which it catches on the wing.

[edit] Breeding

It nests in an unlined tree hole and 2-3 brown eggs are laid.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Avibase
3. Wikipedia
4. BF Member observations

• List of references

[edit] External Links

• Arthur Grosset's Birds