Brown Falcon - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Mitcon
Adelaide, South Australia, September 2005

Falco berigora

Identification

41-50cm

• Dark brown upperparts
• Cream underparts
• Brown sides to head
• Tear-stripe below the eye
• Barred tails

There are several colour morphs, ranging from very dark brown to light brown upperparts and off-white underparts.

Female
Photo © by tcollins
Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, April 2007

Distribution

Australasia: occurs over most of the continent although scarcer on the east coast. Also found on Tasmania and in southern and eastern New Guinea.

Resident or nomadic.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• F. b. novaeguineae:

• Eastern and central New Guinea and coastal northern Australia

• F. b. berigora:

• Australia (except southwest) and Tasmania

• F. b. occidentalis:

• South-Western and west-central Australia

Two additional subspecies centralia in the dry interior of Australia is generally considered invalid and tasmanica on Tasmania is not recognised my most authorities^[2].

Habitat

Juvenile
Photo © by Peter Day
Pengilly Scrub, South Australia Australia, Dec 2014

Open woodland and forest edge, plains, grasslands and farmland.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes small mammals, insects, and reptiles.

Breeding

The nest is made from sticks. The 2-6 eggs are incubated by both sexes for 30 days. The young fledge after a further 40-45 days.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Avibase
3. Birds in Backyards

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Brown Falcon. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Brown_Falcon

External Links

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