Halcón Reidor

Identificación

The laughing falcon is 45 to 56 cm (18 to 22 in) long and has a wingspan of 79 to 94 cm (31 to 37 in). Females are slightly larger than males and significantly heavier. Males of the nominate subspecies weigh 408 to 686 g (0.9 to 1.5 lb) and females 590 to 800 g (1.3 to 1.8 lb). Subspecies H. c. fulvescens is slightly smaller than the nominate.<p>The sexes of the laughing falcon have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have creamy white underparts that vary somewhat among individuals, seasonally, and with feather wear. They have a broad dusky black face "mask" that continues around the neck as a narrow collar. Their crown has dusky black feather shafts that show as narrow streaks, and the rear of the crown has a small bushy crest. Their wings and back are dusky black. Their tail is also dusky black, with four or five white bands, though some individuals have white spots instead. The uppertail coverts are pale buff to cream. The underside of their wing is pale buff, sometimes with some dusky spotting on the underwing coverts, and the flight feathers have cinnamon rufous bases and darker bars. Their iris is dark brown or hazel, their bill is black with a pale yellow to orange-yellow cere, and their feet are usually dull yellow.<p>Immature laughing falcons differ little from adults; they have lighter margins to the back feathers, producing a scalloped effect. Some individuals have cinnamon buff or dusky streaks and spots on their underparts.<p>In flight, the laughing falcon shows a rufous patch at the base of the wing's underside and a shape more like an Accipiter hawk than most of its falcon relatives, with short, rounded wings and a long tail.<p>Subspecies H. c. fulvescens has the same plumage pattern as the nominate but is darker and richer colored overall; its underside is more cinnamon buff than creamy white.

Taxonomía

The laughing falcon was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the falcons and eagles in the genus Falco and coined the binomial name Falco cachinnans. Linnaeus based his account on information from one of his students, Daniel Rolander, who had visited the Dutch colony of Surinam in South America. The laughing falcon is now the only species placed in the genus Herpetotheres that was introduced in 1817 by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot. A 2015 molecular phylogenetic study by Jérôme Fuchs and collaborators found that the laughing falcon was sister to the forest falcons in the genus Micrastur.<p>Major taxonomic systems place the laughing falcon in the subfamily Herpetotherinae with the forest falcons. Earlier it had been placed in the subfamily Falconinae with the "true" falcons. Though up to six subspecies have been proposed, only two have widespread acceptance: the nominate H. c. cachinnans (Linnaeus, 1758) and H. c. fulvescens (Chapman, 1915).<p>The laughing falcon's generic name Herpetotheres refers to its preferred food; it is Latinized Ancient Greek, derived from [h]erpeton (ἑρπετόν, "reptile") + therizein (θερίζειν, "to mow down"). Its English name comes from its loud voice, as does the specific epithet cachinnans, Latin for "laughing aloud" or "laughing immoderately".

Nombre científico

Herpetotheres cachinnans

Autoridad

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Orden

Falconiformes

Familia

Falconidae

Género

Herpetotheres

Distribución y hábitat

The nominate subspecies of the laughing falcon is by far the more widespread. It is found from southern Sonora and San Luis Potosi south through Central America, "exiting" through northeastern Panama into northern Colombia. In South America its range continues east through Venezuela, the Guianas, and northern Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south, east of the Andes through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay into northeastern Argentina, and in most of Brazil. Subspecies H. c. fulvescens is found from Panama's Darién Province south through western Colombia and western Ecuador into northwestern Peru as far as the Department of Lambayeque.<p>The laughing falcon inhabits a wide variety of semi-open treed landscapes, shunning the interior of dense forests. It is found in primary evergreen and deciduous forests, gallery forests, secondary forests, palm groves, savannas, and other open areas with some trees or forest patches. It is generally a bird of the lowlands, from sea level up. It reaches 1,500 m (4,900 feet) in most of Central America though it occurs locally to 1,850 m (6,100 feet) in Costa Rica. It reaches 2,400 m (7,900 feet) in Colombia but usually is much lower. It occurs mostly below 800 m (2,600 feet) in Ecuador, 1,000 m (3,300 feet) in Peru, and 900 m (3,000 feet) in Bolivia.

Migración

Especie residente

Comportamiento

Patrón migratorio: Especie residente.

Conservación

Tendencia poblacional: en declive.

Tendencia poblacional

en declive