Orange-breasted falcon

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Orange-breasted falcon
Falco deiroleucus - Orange-breasted Falcon.JPG
at Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso State, Brazil

Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Falconiformes
Family: Falconidae
Genus: Falco
Species:
F. deiroleucus
Binomial name
Falco deiroleucus
Temminck, 1825
Falco deiroleucus map.svg

The Orange-breasted Falcon (Falco deiroleucus) is a bird of the falcon family. It is probably closely related to and looks like a larger version of the bat falcon, with whom it can be easily mistaken.[2] These two, in turn, are probably closest to the aplomado falcon and constitute a rather old American lineage of Falco.[3]

Its historical range went from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, although now it seems to have disappeared from all of Central America except Panama, Belize and Guatemala.[4] Recent studies suggest that the Central American population in Belize and Guatemala is isolated from the one in Panama and South America. [5] It is unclear why this population is decreasing and it is suggested that nest predation by other species like toucans or black vultures might play a role. While looking for evidence of nest predation, scientists placed several remote cameras in different nests and were able to document a vampire bat parasitizing an incubating female.[6] It is a medium-sized falcon at 35–40 cm (14–15.5 in) long and a weight of 325–700 grams (11 ounces–1 pound 9 ounces).[7] It is a bird predator, with strong talons that enable it to catch prey in flight, and is considered by some – such as the German-Brazilian ornithologist Helmut Sick – as filling the ecological niche of the peregrine falcon as a breeding species in tropical America. The orange-breasted falcon, however, seems to favor more heavily wooded habitats than the peregrine, therefore the species does not seem to be in ecological competition with peregrine falcons wintering or breeding in South America. Living in the predominantly tropical climates of Guatemala and Belize, these birds use the humidity of their niche to their advantage. The orange-breasted falcon purposely crashed into leaves of trees with water gathered on them as a form of bathing.[8] The orange-breasted falcon has a similar plumage to the much smaller bat falcon and is generally considered most closely related to that species now.

  • Falco deiroleucus adult and juvenile, illustration by , 1902

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Falco deiroleucus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22696516A93569126. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22696516A93569126.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Orange-breasted Falcon | Neotropical Falcon | Whitehawk Birding Blog". www.whitehawkbirding.com. 2021-04-15. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  3. ^ Probably diverging from their relatives some 8-5 million years ago, during the Late Miocene. See Birregard (1994), Helbig et al. (1994), Wink et al. (1998), Griffiths (1999), Groombridge et al. (2002), Griffiths et al. (2004)
  4. ^ "Orange-breasted Falcon | The Peregrine Fund". peregrinefund.org. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  5. ^ Berry, Robert B. (2010). "Isolation and Decline of A Population of the Orange-Breasted Falcon" (PDF). The Condor. 112 (3): 479–489. doi:10.1525/cond.2010.100012. hdl:20.500.11919/2937.
  6. ^ Muela, Angel (2011). "An incubating Orange-breasted Falcon (Falco deiroleucus) as host for a vampire bat" (PDF). Journal of Raptor Research. 45 (3): 277–279. doi:10.3356/JRR-10-38.1.
  7. ^ Identification – Orange-breasted Falcon (Falco deiroleucus) – Neotropical Birds. Neotropical.birds.cornell.edu. Retrieved on 2013-03-07.
  8. ^ Eisermann, Knut. “An Observation of Foliage-Bathing by an Orange-Breasted Falcon (Falco Deiroleucus) in Tikal, Guatemala.” The Wilson Bulletin, vol. 117, no. 4, 2005, pp. 415–418., doi:10.1676/04-111.1.

References[]

  • Birregard, Richard O. (1994): 46. Orange-breasted Falcon. In: del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (editors): Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 2 (New World Vultures to Guineafowl): 268, plate 27. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-15-6
  • Helbig, A.J.; Seibold, I.; Bednarek, W.; Brüning, H.; Gaucher, P.; Ristow, D.; Scharlau, W.; Schmidl, D. & Wink, Michael (1994): Phylogenetic relationships among falcon species (genus Falco) according to DNA sequence variation of the cytochrome b gene. In: Meyburg, B.-U. & Chancellor, R.D. (editors): Raptor conservation today: 593–599. PDF fulltext
  • Griffiths, Carole S. (1999). "Phylogeny of the Falconidae inferred from molecular and morphological data" (PDF). Auk. 116 (1): 116–130. doi:10.2307/4089459. JSTOR 4089459.
  • Griffiths, Carole S.; Barrowclough, George F.; Groth, Jeff G. & Mertz, Lisa (2004). "Phylogeny of the Falconidae (Aves): a comparison of the efficacy of morphological, mitochondrial, and nuclear data". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 32 (1): 101–109. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.11.019. PMID 15186800.
  • Groombridge, Jim J.; Jones, Carl G.; Bayes, Michelle K.; van Zyl, Anthony J.; Carrillo, José; Nichols, Richard A. & Bruford, Michael W. (2002). "A molecular phylogeny of African kestrels with reference to divergence across the Indian Ocean". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 25 (2): 267–277. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00254-3. PMID 12414309.
  • Wink, Michael; Seibold, I.; Lotfikhah, F. & Bednarek, W. (1998): Molecular systematics of holarctic raptors (Order Falconiformes). In: Chancellor, R.D., Meyburg, B.-U. & Ferrero, J.J. (editors): Holarctic Birds of Prey: 29–48. Adenex & WWGBP. PDF fulltext

External links[]

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