Falcons | Falconiformes

Valkachtigen | Falcons | Halcones

Raptors with a hooked bill, a cere around the nostrils and grasping feet with sharp, curved claws, the same equipment as hawks and eagles. Yet in the classification this order stands apart from them, next to the parrots and the passerines; that placement rests on molecular data, not on appearance. They are meat-eaters hunting by day or at dusk, with large eyes in a relatively large head. In the Andes and along the west coast the order consists of a single family with 21 species, present here in all its forms. The caracaras, such as Crested Caracara and, at high altitude, Mountain and Carunculated Caracaras of puna and páramo, spend much time walking on the ground, eat carrion and small animals and build a nest of their own. Laughing Falcon specialises in snakes and gives loud, laughing duets at dusk. The forest falcons (Micrastur) hunt from ambush in dense forest with short wings and a long tail, from the Amazonian foothills up to the cloud forest. The true falcons, such as Bat Falcon, which takes bats and birds at dusk, build no nest; in them the female is clearly larger than the male. American Kestrel is a common resident high into the Andes, and Peregrine Falcon breeds here itself and is joined in the northern winter by migrants from North America, as is the scarcer Merlin.

Famílias desta ordem

Falcons and caracaras | Falconidae21 espéciesTwenty-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.