Orange-breasted Falcon
Falco deiroleucus
Fairly large falcon; rare and local around clearings within large tracts of mature forest from southern Mexico to extreme northern Argentina. Very similar to much more common Bat Falcon. Small male Orange-breasted and large female Bat are especially confusing. Orange-breasted usually looks bulkier with proportionally larger head and feet. Look for coarser barring on underparts with broader white tips and bars on each feather, and more contrast between white throat and orange upper breast and neck sides. Beware some Bat Falcons have extensive orange wash on neck. Occurs singly or in pairs, often perched conspicuously in the canopy or on an exposed snag.
Identification
Male orange-breasted falcons are 35 to 36 cm (14 to 14 in) long and weigh 325 to 425 g (11 to 15 oz). Females are 38 to 40 cm (15 to 16 in) long and weigh 550 to 700 g (19 to 25 oz). Of all the falcons, this species has the greatest difference in size between the sexes. It is a rather husky, large-headed, bird. The sexes have similar plumage, and the species resembles the smaller bat falcon. Adults have a black head and bluish black upperparts with paler blue-gray edge on the feathers. Their throat and sides of the neck are white and their upper breast is buffy rufous orange that also extends onto the sides of the neck. The ratio of white to orange varies among individuals. Their lower breast is black with coarse reddish brown bars, somewhat lighter on the flanks. Their belly, thighs, and undertail coverts are the same buffy rufous orange as the upper breast. Their cere, the bare skin around the eye, and their legs and feet are usually bright yellow, but may be pale yellow to dull bluish green. Their iris is dark brown. Immatures are paler and less sharply marked than adults. Their back and tail are dark brownish, their underparts mostly pale buffy with dark brown barring on the breast. Their bare parts are dull bluish green that become more yellow with age.
Taxonomy
The orange-breasted falcon and the bat falcon (F. rufigularis) share plumage and vocal characteristics and may be sister species. Those two appear to be closely related to the aplomado falcon (F. femoralis).<p>The orange-breasted falcon is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Falco deiroleucus
- Authority
- Temminck, 1825
- Order
- Falconiformes
- Family
- Falconidae
- Genus
- Falco
Range and habitat
The orange-breasted falcon formerly was found from southern Mexico all the way to northern Argentina. Its range is now much reduced. The only fairly recent records in Middle America are from Belize, Guatemala, and Panama, though it might still be present in southern Mexico. It is extremely rare or extirpated in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. There are no records in El Salvador. The species is present though rare in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Its status is uncertain in Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Specimens exist from all of this last list of countries, and most are believed to have a few resident pairs. Except in a very few locations it is very sparsely distributed. Knowledge of its distribution is clouded by the species' resemblance to the much more widespread and populous bat falcon.<p>The orange-breasted falcon is dependent of tropical rain- and semi-deciduous forest with cliffs for nesting. It favors uninterrupted mature forest but also occurs in a mosaic landscape of forest and more open areas.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Orange-breasted falcon pairs occupy their territories year-round. Young disperse when independent but the distance typically traveled is not known.<p>The orange-breasted falcon preys on a very wide variety of birds and also bats. Forty-five species of birds, of 22 families, have been documented as prey in Belize and Guatemala some of which include killdeer, Lesser yellowlegs, spotted sandpiper, pectoral sandpiper, scaled pigeon, mourning dove, Ruddy ground dove, grey headed dove, blue ground dove, Ruddy quail dove, olive throated parakeet, brown Hooded parrot, white crowned parrot, pauraque,white collared swift, Lesser Swallow tailed swift, citrline trogon, violaceous trogon, slaty tailed trogon, blue crowned motmot, emerald touconet, Acorn woodpecker, Barred woodpecker, Golden olive woodpecker, Eastern Kingbird, rose throated becard, masked tityra, black crowned tityra, green Jay, Swainsons thrush, grey breasted Martin, Ridgway's rough winged Swallow, tropical mockingbird, red legged honeycreeper, batteries sparrow, rose breasted grosbeak, melodious blackbird. It usually hunts above the forest canopy, either by diving from a cliff or dead treetop or by stooping from great height. "It also uses a stealth strategy for capturing migrating songbirds, shorebirds, and bats, by silhouetting them against the sky at dusk and dawn."<p>The orange-breasted falcon's nest is a scrape or depression, usually on a cliff ledge or pothole, though a pair has nested on a temple in Guatemala's Tikal National Park. There are also a few records of nesting in detritus caught in the crotch of a large emergent tree. The clutch size is usually three eggs but can be two or four. The incubation period is about 30 to 34 days and fledging occurs about 40 to 45 days after hatch. The female does most of the incubating and provisioning of nestlings. The time to independence after fledging is not known.<p>An orange-breasted falcon purposely crashed into leaves of trees with water gathered on them, apparently as a form of bathing.<p>Both sexes of the orange-breasted falcon are highly vocal when breeding. Their aggressive defense call is "a rapid-fire key-key-key-key...repeated over and over until the threat subsides". The call has also been described as "kyowh-kyowh-kyowh". Pairs utter soft chirps or piping sounds as part of courtship.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
White-headed Wren
Campylorhynchus albobrunneus
Medium-sized wren found from eastern Panama through western Colombia. Distinctive in range: all-white head and underparts contrast with dark brown (almost black) back. Occurs in pairs or small groups in humid forest up to around 1,500 m. Forages at all levels, especially around epiphytes.
Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch
Sitta cinnamoventris
Often seen clambering up or headfirst down trees, this small active bird is usually found in the middle levels of the forest, though it will descend down toward the ground on occasion. Gray above and warmly-colored below throughout its range; eastern birds are paler below than western birds, the males of which have dark rusty bellies. Western birds also sport a bright contrasting white moustache. Lack of bright white patch on the tail distinguishes this species from White-tailed Nuthatch. A species of hill and submontane forests, where it favors lightly wooded areas of both broadleaf deciduous and pine forests. Often detected by its quick, echoing trill.
Red-faced Guan
Penelope dabbenei
Mostly arboreal guan endemic to the semi-humid forest with Podocarpus and alders of the mid-elevation east Andes in southern Bolivia and northeast Argentina. Often in ravines and river basins. The sympatric Dusky-legged Guan is more common, but shows grayish-blue skin around the eye. Tends to perch high in trees, singly or in pairs, and often found by far-carrying vocalizations given from high in trees. Note pale supercilium, dull pinkish legs, exposed red orbital skin and wattle.
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