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Amur Falcon - BirdForum Opus

(Redirected from Falco amurensis)
Male
Photo by Alan Manson
Near Mooi River, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, February 2009
Falco amurensis

Identification

28-30 cm (11-11¾ in), 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.

Similar Species

Red-footed Falcon

Female Amur Falcon
Photo by rafo1
Masirah Airbase, Oman

Distribution

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

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species1.

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

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

Behaviour

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.

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.

Reference

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  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

Recommended Citation

Gallery

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External Links

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