Collared forest falcon | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Falconiformes |
Family: | Falconidae |
Genus: | Micrastur |
Species: | M. semitorquatus |
Binomial name | |
Micrastur semitorquatus (Vieillot, 1817) | |
Subspecies | |
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The collared forest falcon (Micrastur semitorquatus) is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is the largest member of the Micrastur genus and a common inhabitant of tropical rainforests in Latin America. [3] Hiding in the dense forest canopy, they are a secretive bird often only recognized by their distinctive call. With a morphology or body type allowing them to be agile in their forested habitat, their diet comprises a wide variety of prey from smaller frogs (20 g) to adult turkeys (2.7-3.2 kg). [4]
Nesting occurs mainly in the cavities of Spanish cedar trees, which are also a key species exploited by the local logging industry. This is a potential conservation concern for the collared forest falcon. [5]
The collared forest falcon has a dark coloured back with a white neck and breast. The species has three morphological variants (morphs): pale, tawny and dark. The former two have a light coloured collar at the back of their neck, which explains their name. [5] This is the largest species of the forest falcon genus, with a total length of 46 to 58 cm (18 to 23 in), wingspan of 72 to 86 cm (28 to 34 in) and male weights of 467 to 646 g (1.030 to 1.424 lb), averaging some 523 g (1.153 lb), and female weights of 649–940 g (1.431–2.072 lb), averaging 740 g (1.63 lb), this species is nearly the size of peregrine falcon albeit longer-tailed and much shorter-winged. [4] [6] [7] [8] Although its forest lifestyle, rounded short wings, long tail and lack of the characteristic beak tooth suggest affinities to hawks, there are several morphological connections to the Falconidae in which it is now placed, e.g. moult pattern and the morphology of the skull. [5]
M. semitorquatus display sexual size dimorphism, with the female being much larger than the males on many accounts such as mass, size of beak, tail and wing chord. It averages a value of 9.5 on the dimorphism index (moderately large). This value was calculated from observations done at Tikal National Park in Guatemala. [4]
Nestlings are born with a cover of natal down, white nails, light yellow legs and short, deep, laterally, yellowish white compressed beaks. Their heads are held up and eyes open after a couple days. Pupils begin with a blue back hue and black iris which turns to a more chocolate brown after four weeks. After a few weeks the young are able to defend themselves if bothered. Down feathers will be gone by the sixth week, replaced with juvenile feathers. However, fledging will occur before wing and tail feathers are completely grown. In the weeks that follow, fledglings will continue to move further from the nesting site as they grow bigger and more confident. [4]
The collared forest falcon is a member of the order Falconiformes in the family Falconidae. The largest member of the genus Micrastur, it has two recognized subspecies: M. s. naso and M. s. semitorquatus. [3] The former occurs in regions starting from Mexico south descending through Central America towards the west Andes in Colombia, Ecuador and extreme northwest Peru. Alternatively, the latter is found mostly on the east side of the Andes. [4]
Other members of the Micrastur genus include: [9]
M. semitorquatus at first was thought to include the species M. buckleyi, however this conclusion was disregarded after the description of a female and immature Buckley's forest falcon was done by Amadon (1964). The latter termed them different species and this view has been kept since then. [10]
Morphological traits adapted to flying in a dense forest habitat - shorter rounded wings, long legs and tail - represent an example of convergent evolution with the Accipiter species. [4]
The species is commonly found in many Central and South American countries: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. [11] The species is extremely widespread, with a total estimated population between 500,000 and 5 million individuals. Furthermore, they are year-round residents of their Latin American home. [4]
Due to their distinct morphology, the collared forest falcon is able to inhabit a variety of habitats from moister regions such as mangroves, tropical and rain forests to gallery forest and tall second growth. They tend to prefer regions where the undergrowth is relatively dense and where they can move and hunt more easily within it. [4] They range from sea level to 2500 m elevation. [12]
Around ten territorial pairs are estimated to occupy a 100 km2 area. However, these estimates are based on radio telemetry of individuals during the breeding season and therefore they may be different in another context. [13] [4]
The call of the forest falcon has been described as a distinctive low, almost human-like ow or ahr. During the breeding season, these vocalizations can be heard before sunrise every morning and into the mid-morning. The low-frequency of the sound and the timing at which they tend to communicate makes it possible for them to be heard at great distances in the dense forest canopy. Their calls are thought to delineate territory as breeding pairs will often keep some distance between them. [4]
The most typical call heard from both males and females is an eight-second song consisting of three or four ow or ahr notes. Sometimes, the female may produce a 10-second call consisting of between 10-30 more rapid notes increasing in tempo proceeding the regular call. [4]
In the beginning, between one and three weeks old, the young make more of a scree sound. However, this changes to single-note ahr calls as they get closer to fledging and some weeks thereafter. [4]
The collared forest falcon will catch its prey by first concealing itself in the dense forest canopy before pursuing by flight, or running and hopping along the forest floor. This hunting of animals is thought to be aided by their specialized sense of hearing supported by a more pronounced facial disk, also seen in owls and harriers. Flexible tail feathers are also helpful when going after prey in dense forest areas. Differences were observed in the hunting techniques among individual M. semitorquatus'. [4]
The Micrastur species enjoys a wide variety of prey such as birds, mammals, lizards, snakes and insects. In a study conducted from 1990–92, prey items delivered to the females, nestlings and fledglings were counted and identified to species (if possible). 223 prey items were accounted for, 171 of which were identified. Results showed that the largest proportion of the collared forest falcon's diet consisted of mammals (46.2%). Then, 34.5% were birds, 18.7% reptiles and 0.6% amphibians. Prey ranged from smaller 20 g to very large 2.7-3.2 kg. [4] [12]
Comparisons with the diet of its relative the barred forest falcon (Micrastur ruficollis) showed that the collared forest falcon had a mean prey weight that was 10 times greater. [12] Since the M. semitorquatus is three times larger than M. ruficollis , a comparaison with another larger raptor could prove more interesting in terms of dietary overlap. [4]
Courtship activities including vocalizations, searching and guarding of nest sites, prey exchanges and copulation occur during the dry season from January to March. Egg laying spans a 30-day period, peaking during the month of march. Next, the incubation period lasts about 46–48 days with the female as the one doing the task. The male meanwhile provides all the food for this period. On average the young fledge at 50 days old (after hatching). Moreover, they stay dependent on their parents for an additional 6–11 weeks. It is late into the nestling period before the mother is able to leave the nest to go hunt and the father is no longer the sole provider of food for the family. In addition, there have been some accounts of a collared forest falcon feeding fledglings that are not his own. Little is known on why this would occur and/or how often this type of behavior is exhibited. [4] [14]
Collared forest falcons use the cavities of large trees and wood debris as their nests. All are non-excavated nesting sites, occurring naturally through decay or broken limbs. Nothing extra is brought into the nest as bedding or support. The entrances and nests themselves are quite large to accommodate for the size of the female birds. Furthermore, larger trees (dbh: 90 cm - 314 cm) are favored for that same reason. In this regard, Spanish cedar ( Cedrela mexicana ) seemed to be selected more often, in other words there was a positive selection for this species. [13] [14] [4] Other species of trees observed to be used as nesting sites includes: Honduras mahogany ( Swietenia macrophylla ), [14] [13] Black Cabbage-bark (Lonchocarpus castilloi), Yellow Mombin (Spondias mombin) and Chicozapote ( Manilkara zapota ). [14] [13] [4] Nesting in live trees proved highly more successful than in dead trees, which were mostly unsuccessful. [13] Most breeding pairs will use the same nest site in subsequent years. [13] [4]
The eggs of the collared forest falcon are a dark reddish brown with spots found to be either tan or dark brown. Clutch sizes are small, consisting of only 2 eggs. Mass of the eggs are an average of 53.4 g (+/- 2.6 g). [14] [4]
Currently, M. semitorquatus ranks as least concern in conservation status since it inhabits a wide variety of forest types. On the other hand, the collared forest falcon tends to select bigger, old growth trees such as the Cedrela mexicana as their nesting sites. This type of wood also happens to be preferred by the surrounding logging industries. Future research may want to look into the potential impact that logging could have on the breeding of these large birds. Modified habitats may prove unsuitable for these species to adapt. [4]
The rough-legged buzzard (Europe) or rough-legged hawk is a medium-large bird of prey. It is found in Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America, Europe, and Russia during the breeding season and migrates south for the winter. It was traditionally also known as the rough-legged falcon in such works as John James Audubon's The Birds of America.
The red-footed falcon, formerly the western red-footed falcon, is a bird of prey. It belongs to the family Falconidae, the falcons. This bird is found in eastern Europe and Asia although its numbers are dwindling rapidly due to habitat loss and hunting. It is migratory, wintering in Africa. It is a regular wanderer to western Europe, and in August 2004 a red-footed falcon was found in North America for the first time on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Cooper's hawk is a medium-sized hawk native to the North American continent and found from southern Canada to Mexico. This species is a member of the genus Accipiter, sometimes referred to as true hawks, which are famously agile, relatively small hawks common to wooded habitats around the world and also the most diverse of all diurnal raptor genera. As in many birds of prey, the male is smaller than the female. The birds found east of the Mississippi River tend to be larger on average than the birds found to the west. It is easily confused with the smaller but similar sharp-shinned hawk.
The red-tailed hawk is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members within the genus of Buteo in North America or worldwide. The red-tailed hawk is one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk", though it rarely preys on standard-sized chickens. The bird is sometimes also referred to as the red-tail for short, when the meaning is clear in context. Red-tailed hawks can acclimate to all the biomes within their range, occurring on the edges of non-ideal habitats such as dense forests and sandy deserts. The red-tailed hawk occupies a wide range of habitats and altitudes, including deserts, grasslands, coniferous and deciduous forests, agricultural fields, and urban areas. Its latitudinal limits fall around the tree line in the subarctic and it is absent from the high Arctic. Generally it favors varied habitats with open woodland, woodland edge and open terrain. It is legally protected in Canada, Mexico, and the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Forest falcons are members of the genus Micrastur, part of the family Falconidae. They are endemic to the Americas, found from Mexico in the north, south through Central America and large parts of South America, and as far south as northern Argentina. Most are restricted to humid tropical and subtropical forests, but the two most widespread species, the collared and the barred forest falcon, also range into drier and more open habitats.
The red-necked falcon is a bird of prey in the falcon family with two disjunct populations, one in India and the other in Africa. This medium-sized falcon has bluish grey wings and upper body, a chestnut red cap with short chin straps passing through the eye. The primary feathers of the wing are black and a single black band at the tip of the tail are distinctive. The Indian subspecies Falco chicquera chicquera also known as the red-headed merlin or red-headed falcon is found mainly in the open plains of the India Subcontinent although it is thought to have occurred further west in southeastern Iran. The subspecies Falco chicquera ruficollis found in sub-Saharan Africa is sometimes treated as a full species, the rufous-necked falcon, on the basis of its well-separated geographic range and distinctive pattern. It appears very similar to the Indian form but has dark barring on the upperparts, a rufous breast band, and black moustachial and eye stripes. As in most falcons, the females are larger and falconers in India called the female turumti and the male as chatwa. They hunt in pairs mostly at dawn and dusk, capturing small birds, bats and squirrels.
The laughing falcon is a medium-sized bird of prey in subfamily Herpetotherinae of family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It is found from Mexico south through Central America and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.
The ornate hawk-eagle is a fairly large bird of prey from the tropical Americas. Formerly, some authorities referred to this species as the crested hawk-eagle, a name that may cause some confusion as it is more commonly used for an Asian eagle species. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae. This species has a feathered tarsus that marks it as a member of the Aquilinae or booted eagle subfamily. This species is notable for the vivid colors and bold markings of adults, which differ considerably from the far more whitish plumage of the juvenile bird. The ornate hawk-eagle ranges from central Mexico south through much of Central America and in a somewhat spotty but broad overall range into South America, including in the west apart from the Andes and broadly on the Atlantic side especially Brazil down to as far as Southeast Brazil and northern Argentina. This species is found largely in primary forests with tall trees, although can be found in many forest types.
The orange-breasted falcon is a Near Threatened bird of prey in the family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It is found in southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Panama, and either definitely or probably in every South American country except Chile and Uruguay.
The black falcon is a medium-large falcon that is endemic to Australia. It can be found in all mainland states and territories and yet is regarded as Australia's most under-studied falcon.
The bicolored hawk is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is found in forest, woodland, second growth, plantations, and wooded savanna in southeastern Mexico, Central America, and northern and central South America. Though generally uncommon, it is the most common species of Accipiter in most of its range, but it does not occur at altitudes above 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) such as the highest parts of the Andes.
The grey-bellied hawk or grey-bellied goshawk is a fairly large and rare species of forest-dwelling South American bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
Buckley's forest falcon, also called lesser collared forest-falcon and Traylor's forest-falcon, is a species of bird of prey in subfamily Herpetotherinae of family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and possibly Colombia and Venezuela.
The cryptic forest falcon is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found in the southeastern Amazon rainforest in Brazil and Bolivia. While uncommon in its Amazonian range, it remains widespread and is therefore rated as least concern by BirdLife International and IUCN. Unlike the lined forest falcon, with which it has long been confused in a cryptic species complex, adult cryptic forest falcons only have a single white tail-band.
The slaty-backed forest falcon is a species of bird of prey in subfamily Herpetotherinae of family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, and every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The plumbeous forest-falcon is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae only found in the Chocó region in Colombia and Ecuador. This rare bird has not been often spotted, which makes its study complicated. For a long time, it was considered to be part of the lined forest-falcons but it now known to be a species of its own. It is currently considered a vulnerable species because of the precarity of its habitat that is threatened by deforestation.
The barred forest falcon is a species of bird of prey in subfamily Herpetotherinae of family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It occurs from southern Mexico south through most of Central America and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.
The pied falconet, is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Hong Kong, India, Laos, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is temperate forests.
The white-rumped falcon is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae native to Indochina. It is placed in its own monotypic genus, Neohierax.
The Eurasian goshawk is a species of medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, a family which also includes other extant diurnal raptors, such as eagles, buzzards and harriers. As a species in the genus Accipiter, the goshawk is often considered a "true hawk". The scientific name is Latin; Accipiter is "hawk", from accipere, "to grasp", and gentilis is "noble" or "gentle" because in the Middle Ages only the nobility were permitted to fly goshawks for falconry.