forest falcon

The forest falcons of the Neotropics are generalist forest hunters.

The first contains the caracaras, forest falcons, and Laughing Falcon.

Forest falcons are members of the genus Micrastur, part of the family Falconidae.

Genus Micrastur - forest falcons (7 species)

Forest falcons and Orange-breasted Falcons have been seen hunting them, and vampire bats lap their blood.

Cryptic Forest Falcon, Micrastur mintoni, from Brazil.

Together with the Plumbeous Forest Falcon of the Chocó, they are an example of a cryptic species complex.

Forest falcons, like most Accipiter-type hawks (but unlike other falcons), are adapted for agility in thick cover rather than outright speed in the open air.

The falcons are part of the family Falconidae, which also includes the caracaras, Laughing Falcon, forest falcons, and falconets.

In South America, however, the Barred Forest Falcon lives in other kinds of forests and woodland, even relatively arid.

The Lined Forest Falcon (Micrastur gilvicollis) is a species of bird of prey in the Falconidae family.

The family is divided into two subfamiles, Polyborinae, which includes the caracaras and forest falcons, and Falconinae, the falcons, kestrels and falconets.

It has been named Micrastur mintoni, the Cryptic Forest Falcon, as it is phenotypically highly similar to M. gilvicollis.

Forest-falcons are inventive, flexible hunters, and at least some species (such as the relatively long-legged Collared Forest Falcon) are also capable of catching terrestrial prey on foot.

Unlike the Lined Forest Falcon, adult Cryptic Forest Falcons only have a single white tail-band (in addition to a narrow white tail-tip).

It closely resembles the Lined Forest Falcon from the Amazon, but adults only have a single white tail-band (in addition to a narrow white tail-tip) and the irides are pale brownish-grey.

On the other hand, the Check-list of South American Birds classifies all caracaras as true falcons and puts the Laughing Falcon and forest falcons into the subfamily Herpetotherinae.

Barred Forest Falcon and Collared Forest Falcon generally occur below the altitude of chionogaster, and they have whitish or buff nuchal collars.

In Acre, Brazil, the Barred Forest Falcon is reported to prefer disturbed forest types, both natural secondary and man made, including bamboo and more open seasonally drier forest on rocky outcrops.

Long confused with the Lined Forest Falcon, the Cryptic Forest Falcon was only scientifically described in 2003 - the two being an example of a cryptic species complex.

There are plenty of other birds to see on El Triunfo: brilliantly colored tanagers, trogons and hummingbirds, flycatchers and woodcreepers, forest falcons and tiny manakins that spend much of the day dancing before their females.

Populations found in the south-eastern Amazon Basin (south of the Amazon River and east of the Madeira River) were formerly included in this species, but were described as a new species, the Cryptic Forest Falcon, in 2003.

The rare dark morph ventralis is arguably the plumage most likely to cause confusion with other species (e.g. White-rumped Hawk, dark morph Collared Forest Falcon and various Buteo hawks), but the yellow eyes and the overall shape means that it too is relatively distinctive.

While adults of all three species have the deep orange-red facial skin and cere that separates them from the sympatric Barred Forest Falcon, only the Lined Forest Falcon has two white bars in the tail (in addition to a narrow white tail-tip).