Quantcast

Aplomado Falcon

Falco femoralisOrder: FALCONIFORMESFamily: Falcons (Falconidae)

Aplomado Falcon Portrait
  Copyright 2002-2007 Whatbird.com
Click here for licensing information Splitbar

General

Aplomado Falcon: Medium-sized falcon with slate-gray upperparts and plain white breast. White, moustache-striped face has pale eyebrows joining at back of head. Belly and legs are cinnamon-brown. Tail is long and banded with white and black (or gray) stripes. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has brown upperparts, streaked breast, and cinnamon-brown underparts.

Range and Habitat

Aplomado Falcon: Once bred from southwestern U.S. to the southernmost portion of South America, but largely extirpated by the 1930's; now mostly seen across Mexican-American border. Preferred habitats include deserts, grasslands, prairie, and savanna.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"keeh-keeh-keeh", "kiih"

Interesting Facts

  • The Aplomado Falcon was first described in 1822 by Coenraad Jacob Temminck, a Dutch aristocrat and zoologist.
  • "Aplomado" is an unusual Spanish word for "lead-colored", referring to the blue-gray areas of the plumage.
  • Their resemblance in shape to hobbies accounts for the former name of Orange-chested Hobby.
  • A group of falcons has many collective nouns, including a "bazaar", "eyrie", "ringing up", "stooping up", and "tower" of falcons.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

Splitbar
Range Map for Aplomado Falcon
.
Bird database and its related content, illustrations and media is Copyright © 2002 - 2007  Whatbird.com
All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group.
 Privacy Policy.
Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Falco femoralis
Length15 - 18 Inches
Wingspan44 Inches

Aplomado Falcon

Aplomado Falcon: Medium falcon with slate-gray upperparts, plain white breast. White, moustache-striped face has pale eyebrows joining at back of head. Belly and legs are cinnamon-brown. Long tail banded with white and black (or gray) stripes. Swift, direct flight with deep wing beats, also hovers.

● Song: "keeh-keeh-keeh", "kiih"

● Foraging & Feeding: Aplomado Falcon: Mainly eats small birds, but also feeds on insects, small mammals, and other vertebrates. Hunts cooperatively in pairs, with male typically flying above female.

● Breeding & nesting: Aplomado Falcon: Three to four heavily brown-spotted, white to light pink eggs are laid in a nest built in a tree or tall shrub; usually uses an abandoned or taken by force nest of other birds, such as Chihuahuan Ravens and Swainson's Hawks. Incubation ranges from 31 to 32 days and is carried out by both parents. Young fledge at 28 to 35 days.

● Similar species: Aplomado Falcon: Prairie Falcon has brown upperparts, dark-streaked pale underparts, and white bar on pale wing lining.

Flight Pattern

Swift flight with deep wing beats.
Aplomado Falcon Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Aplomado Falcon: Once bred from southwestern U.S. to the southernmost portion of South America, but largely extirpated by the 1930's; now mostly seen across Mexican-American border. Preferred habitats include deserts, grasslands, prairie, and savanna.
BreedingMonogamous
PopulationCasual to rare
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight9.2 Ounces