Aplomado Falcon (us-RGV)
From WikiBird
Contents |
Regional Information
Range, Abundance, and Seasonal Variations
East of Brownsville on highway 4 to Boca Chica. Often near the Border Patrol Checkpoint. Also found at Laguna Atascosa NWR, and Anzalduas Park.
Directions and Maps
General Information
Size
Length: 30–40cm (12–16in), Wingspan: 90cm (36in), Weight: 250–475g (9–17oz)
Field Marks
Very slender, long-winged, and long-tailed. Adult: Upperparts are dark blue-gray, as is much of the head, with the usual falcon "moustache" contrasting sharply with the white throat and eyestripe. The upper breast continues the white of the throat; there are black patches on each side of the lower breast that meet in the middle; the belly and thighs, below the black patches, are light cinnamon. The tail is black with narrow white or gray bars. Juvenile: Similar to adult but their upperparts and belly band are blackish brown, the chest is streaked with black, the white on the head and breast is buffy, and the cinnamon on the underparts is paler.
Similar species
It may be confused with the Bat Falcon and the Orange-breasted Falcon, which have similar white-black-rust patterns below, but those species are built more like Peregrines and have solidly blackish heads and darker rufous bellies.
Sounds
Feeding & Behavior
It feeds on insects and small vertebrates, especially birds, and is often seen soaring at twilight hunting insects and eating them on the wing. It also hunts at fields being burned, at which many birds of this species may gather.
Habitat & Nesting
Arid grasslands, savannahs, and marshes.
Range
From northern Mexico and Trinidad locally to southern South America, but has been extirpated from much of its range, including northern and central Mexico except for a small area of Chihuahua. Until the 1950s it was found in the extreme southwestern United States, and reintroduction efforts are under way in south Texas. It may be returning naturally to southern New Mexico, as it has been seen there every year from 2000 to 2004 and bred successfully in 2002.
Resources
