Falcons | Falconiformes

Valkachtigen | Halcones

Falcons kill their prey not with their feet but with the bill: the upper mandible carries a sharp, tooth-like notch used to break the prey's neck vertebrae. The wings are long and pointed, built for fast, agile flight and, in some species, for high-speed diving stoops. Falcons build no nest of their own: they breed on a rock ledge, in a tree cavity or in another bird's abandoned nest, and the eggs are heavily marked with reddish-brown blotches. The downy chicks stay in the nest, and as in other birds of prey the female is usually larger than the male.

Families in this order

Falcons and caracaras | Falconidae8 speciesDespite a lifestyle that closely resembles that of hawks, falcons are placed by DNA evidence closer to the parrots and songbirds. During high-speed stoops, small conical bumps inside the nostrils protect the lungs from the enormous air pressure, while a third, translucent eyelid slides across the eye like built-in goggles without blocking vision. The caracaras within the family break sharply from this picture: they are largely ground-hunting scavengers that forage on foot, with long legs and an upright stance, and bare facial skin similar to that of the vultures they sometimes feed alongside. Unlike most birds of prey, some falcons cache part of an abundant catch, tucking the remainder of the prey into vegetation to eat later.