Plumbeous Forest-Falcon
Micrastur plumbeus
Rare raptor found in wet rainforest in northwestern Ecuador and western Colombia. Adult is gray with barred underparts and orange face and legs. It is extremely similar to the much more common Barred Forest-Falcon; tail is shorter and only shows one band, though this is often hard to see; facial skin and legs are deep orange and usually darker than the yellow to orange hue of Barred. Immature is mostly white below with only faint barring on the breast. Vocalizations are similar and in some cases almost identical to those of Barred Forest-Falcon.
识别特征
The adult plumbeous forest-falcon has a grey back and a grey head with very bright orange legs and face. Their breast is barred and paler than their back, and their belly is more whitish towards the tail. This raptor has a black tail with a white tip and a white band in the middle, going across the whole width. Their irides are dark brown. The individuals are 30-34 cm (13 in) long and females are bigger than males. As a matter of fact, females weigh 180-213g and males weigh 172-188g.<p>Immature individuals look similar besides a whiter breast and beige-ish irides, clearer than in mature individuals.<p>Forest-falcons usually have long tails and round wings, but the plumbeous forest-falcon has a shorter tail and long wings.
分类信息
For some time, it had been debated whether the plumbeous forest-falcon was a lined forest-falcon (Micrastur gilvicollis) or a subspecies of the latter because of their resemblance. As it turned out, these birds were two different species. Their territorial distributions are completely separate.<p>M. plumbeus and M. ruficollis interestes live in the same environment but do not interbreed, or even interfere with each other. They are sympatric and syntonic. The plumbeous forest-falcon differentiated about 3 million years ago after the split between trans- and cis-Andean South American populations. The closure of the Panama seaway, due to a drier and cooler climate linked to the formation of ice sheets at higher latitudes, may have highly contributed to the isolation of the plumbeous forest-falcon. <p>Forest-falcons are part of the sub-family Herpetotherinae. This clade's and Polyborinae's species are usually found in forests and wetlands.
- 学名
- Micrastur plumbeus
- 命名信息
- Sclater, WL, 1918
- 目
- Falconiformes
- 科
- Falconidae
- 属
- Micrastur
分布与栖息地
The plumbeous forest-falcon is endemic to the south of the Chocó region in South America. This region extends in the south-west of Colombia and the north-west of Ecuador. This bird lives all-year long in forest lowlands and foothill forests; it is not a migratory bird. The elevation of its habitat varies from the sea level to approximately 1500m of altitude. One research project studying a few pairs of this species found that their territory extended over 35-40 ha.<p>This species has been classified as vulnerable by the IUCN because of habitat loss. Deforestation is touching more territories and the plumbeous forest-falcon's habitat is being destructed. It is an unprotected species that needs to be studied more extensively to help its conservation. Efforts should be focused on the Chocó area where this organism is solely contained.
- 迁徙
- Resident species
行为
Migration pattern: Resident species.
保护状况
Population trend: declining.
- 种群趋势
- declining
照片
分布
其他鸟类
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