Falcons and caracaras | Falconidae

Valken en caracara's | Halcones y caracaras | Falcons and caracaras

Twenty-one species in seven genera occur in this guide. In the true falcons the cutting edge of the upper mandible carries a sharp tooth that fits a notch in the lower: they kill with a bite through the neck, not with the crushing power of the foot as hawks do. Their wing is long and pointed and the beat stiff and rowing; inside the nostril sits a small bony knob that breaks the airflow in fast dives. The American Kestrel hunts lizards and insects from a post or wire, the Bat Falcon catches bats and birds at dusk, and the Peregrine and Aplomado Falcons take birds in the air. The forest-falcons (Micrastur) hunt with short, rounded wings in the interior of the forest, and the Laughing Falcon specialises in snakes. The caracaras are built far less for speed: they walk on the ground and eat carrion, insects and small animals, and in the páramo and puna the mountain and carunculated caracaras forage on grassland and fields; the Red-throated Caracara raids wasp nests. The true falcons make no nest but lay on a cliff ledge, in a tree hole, on a building or in a disused nest of another bird, whereas the caracaras often build a stick nest of their own. The eggs are buff and densely covered with red-brown markings; the clutch is usually two to five, incubated mostly by the female while the male brings the food.