Falconidae
Encyclopedia
The falcons and caracaras are around 60 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of diurnal birds of prey that make up the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Falconidae. The family is divided into two subfamiles, Polyborinae
Polyborinae
Polyborinae is a subfamily of the falcon family, Falconidae. It contains the caracaras, forest falcons, and Laughing Falcon. All species in this subfamily are native to the Americas. The composition of Falconidae is disputed, and Polyborninae is not featured in the American Ornithologists' Union...

, which includes the caracara
Caracara
Caracaras are birds of prey in the family Falconidae. They are traditionally placed in the subfamily Polyborinae, but are sometimes considered part of their own subfamily, Caracarinae, or members of the true falcon subfamily, Falconinae...

s and forest falcon
Forest falcon
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...

s, and Falconinae
Falconinae
Falconinae is a subfamily of the bird family Falconidae. In its traditional classification, it contains the falcons, falconets, and pygmy falcons. Depending on the authority, Falconinae may also include the caracaras and/or the Laughing Falcon....

, the falcon
Falcon
A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....

s, kestrel
Kestrel
The name kestrel, is given to several different members of the falcon genus, Falco. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour which is to hover at a height of around over open country and swoop down on prey, usually small mammals, lizards or large insects...

s and falconets.

Description

Falcons and caracaras are small to medium sized birds of prey, ranging in size from the Black-thighed Falconet
Black-thighed Falconet
The Black-thighed Falconet is one of the smallest birds of prey, typically measuring between long. It is native to Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia....

, which can weight as little as 35 grams (1.2 oz), to the Gyrfalcon
Gyrfalcon
The Gyrfalcon — Falco rusticolus — is the largest of the falcon species. The Gyrfalcon breeds on Arctic coasts and the islands of North America, Europe, and Asia. It is mainly resident there also, but some Gyrfalcons disperse more widely after the breeding season, or in winter.Individual vagrancy...

, which can weigh as much as 1735 grams (61.2 oz). They have strongly hooked bills, sharply curved talons and excellent eyesight. The plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...

 is usually composed of browns, whites, chestnut, black and grey, often with barring of patterning. There is little difference in the plumage of males and females, although a few species have some sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...

 in boldness of plumage.

They differ from other Falconiformes in killing with their beaks instead of their feet. They have a "tooth" on the side of their beak for the purpose.

Distribution and habitat

The family has a cosmopolitan distribution
Cosmopolitan distribution
In biogeography, a taxon is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if its range extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. For instance, the killer whale has a cosmopolitan distribution, extending over most of the world's oceans. Other examples include humans, the lichen...

 across the world, absent only from the densest forest of central Africa, some remote oceanic islands, the high Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 and Antarctica. Some species have exceptionally wide ranges, particularly the cosmopolitan Peregrine Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...

, which ranges from Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

 to Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

 and has the widest natural breeding distribution of any bird. Other species have more restricted distributions, particularly island endemics like the Mauritius Kestrel
Mauritius Kestrel
The Mauritius Kestrel is a bird of prey from the family Falconidae endemic to the forests of Mauritius, where it is restricted to the southwestern plateau's forests, cliffs, and ravines.It is the most distinct of the Indian Ocean kestrels...

. Most habitat types are occupied, from tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...

 to rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 and desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

s, although they are generally more birds of open country and even forest species tend to prefer broken forest and forest edges. Some species, mostly in the genus Falco, are fully migratory, with some species summering in Eurasia and wintering entirely in Africa, other species may be partly migratory. The Amur Falcon
Amur Falcon
The Amur Falcon , formerly Eastern Red-footed Falcon, is a small raptor of the falcon family. It breeds in south-eastern Siberia and Northern China, wintering in Southern Africa...

 has one of the longest migrations, moving from East Asia to southern Africa.

Diet and feeding

Falcons and caracaras are carnivores, feeding on birds, small mammals, reptiles, insects and carrion. In popular imagination the falconids are fast flying predators, and while this is true of the genus Falco and some falconets other species, particularly the caracaras are more sedentary in their feeding. The forest falcon
Forest falcon
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...

s of the Neotropics are generalist forest hunters. Several species, particularly the true falcons, will stash food supplies in caches. They are solitary hunters and pairs guard territories, although they may form large flocks during migration
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...

. Some species are specialists, the Laughing Falcon
Laughing Falcon
The Laughing Falcon , also called the Snake Hawk , is a medium-sized bird of prey in the falcon family , the only member of the genus Herpetotheres. This Neotropical species is a specialist snake-eater...

 specialises in snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

s, others are more generalist.

Breeding

The falcons and caracaras are generally solitary breeders, although around 10% of species are colonial
Bird colony
A bird colony is a large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in close proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting birds is called a breeding colony...

, for example the Red-footed Falcon
Red-footed Falcon
The Red-footed Falcon , formerly 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...

. They are monogamous
Monogamy
Monogamy /Gr. μονός+γάμος - one+marriage/ a form of marriage in which an individual has only one spouse at any one time. In current usage monogamy often refers to having one sexual partner irrespective of marriage or reproduction...

, although some caracaras may also employ alloparenting
Alloparenting
In biology and sociology, alloparenting is where individuals other than the actual parents act in a parental role.One common form of alloparenting is where grandparents adopt a parental role. This is sometimes named a "skipped generation household"...

 stratergies, where younger birds help adults (usually their parents) in raising the next brood of chicks. Nests are generally not built (except by the caracaras), but are co opted from other birds, for example Pygmy Falcons nest in the nests of weavers, or on the ledges on cliffs. Around 2-4 eggs are laid, and mostly incubated
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...

 by the female. Incubation times vary from species to species and are correlated with body size, lasting 28 days in smaller species and up to 35 days in larger species. Chicks fledge
Fledge
Fledge is the stage in a young bird's life when the feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight. It also describes the act of a chick's parents raising it to a fully grown state...

 after 28–49 days, again varying with size.

Relations with humans

Falcons and caracaras have a complicated relationship with humans. In ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

 they were deified in the form of Horus
Horus
Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...

, the Sky and Sun God, and was the ancestor of the Pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

s. Caracaras also formed part of the legends of the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...

s, and are today the national emblems of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. Falcons were important in the (formerly often royal) sport of falconry
Falconry
Falconry is "the taking of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained raptor". There are two traditional terms used to describe a person involved in falconry: a falconer flies a falcon; an austringer flies a hawk or an eagle...

. They have also been persecuted for their predation on game and farm animals, and that persecution has led to the extinction of at least one species, the Guadalupe Caracara
Guadalupe Caracara
The Guadalupe Caracara, Caracara lutosa, is an extinct bird of prey belonging to the falcon family . It was, together with the closely related Crested and Southern Caracara, formerly placed in the genus Polyborus. It was also known as the Quelili or the Calalie.This species inhabited Mexico's...

. Several insular species have declined dramatically, none more so than the Mauritius Kestrel
Mauritius Kestrel
The Mauritius Kestrel is a bird of prey from the family Falconidae endemic to the forests of Mauritius, where it is restricted to the southwestern plateau's forests, cliffs, and ravines.It is the most distinct of the Indian Ocean kestrels...

, which at one time numbered no more than four birds. Around five species of falcon are considered vulnerable
Vulnerable species
On 30 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 9694 Vulnerable species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations.-References:...

 to extinction by the IUCN, including the Saker Falcon
Saker Falcon
The Saker Falcon is a very large falcon. This species breeds from eastern Europe eastwards across Asia to Manchuria. It is mainly migratory except in the southernmost parts of its range, wintering in Ethiopia, the Arabian peninsula, northern Pakistan and western China...

.

Classification problems

Traditionally, all the raptors are grouped into 4 families
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 in this single order. However, in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, it has become common to split the order into two: the falcon
Falcon
A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....

s and caracara
Caracara
Caracaras are birds of prey in the family Falconidae. They are traditionally placed in the subfamily Polyborinae, but are sometimes considered part of their own subfamily, Caracarinae, or members of the true falcon subfamily, Falconinae...

s remain in the order Falconiformes (about 60 species in 4 groups), and the remaining 220-odd species (including the Accipitridae
Accipitridae
The Accipitridae, one of the two major families within the order Accipitriformes , are a family of small to large birds with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-sized mammals, with a number feeding on carrion and a...

eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...

s, hawk
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...

s, and many others) are put in the separate order Accipitriformes
Accipitriformes
The Accipitriformes is an order that has been proposed to include most of the diurnal birds of prey: hawks, eagles, vultures, and many others, about 225 species in all. For a long time, the majority view has been to include them with the falcons in the Falconiformes, but some authorities have...

. A prehistoric family known only from fossils are the Horusornithidae
Horusornithidae
The Horusornithidae are a prehistoric family of birds of prey. They are part of the Falconiformes. Their name means "Horus-birds": the Egyptian god Horus was sometimes depicted as a falcon....

.

The idea that Falconiformes should be divided into many orders comes from the suggestion that the order may not share a single lineage that is exclusive of other birds. The most controversial but also most well-supported suggestion is that Cathartidae are not Falconiformes but are related to the storks, in the separate order Ciconiiformes
Ciconiiformes
Traditionally, the order Ciconiiformes has included a variety of large, long-legged wading birds with large bills: storks, herons, egrets, ibises, spoonbills, and several others. Ciconiiformes are known from the Late Eocene...

. However, morphological evidence supports the common ancestry of the Falconiformes, and the Strigiformes
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...

 may be very close to the Falconiformes as well.

The American Ornithologists' Union reintegrated the New World vulture
New World vulture
The New World Vulture or Condor family Cathartidae contains seven species in fivegenera, all but one of which are monotypic. It includes five vultures and two condors found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas....

s (family Cathartidae) into Falconiformes in 2007. This goes against the influential Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy
Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy
The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy is a bird taxonomy proposed by Charles Sibley and Jon Edward Ahlquist. It is based on DNA-DNA hybridization studies conducted in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s....

, in which all the raptors are placed into Ciconiiformes, but the Cathartids are considered to be outside the lineage that includes other raptors. While the latter is apparently correct, the "Ciconiiformes" sensu Sibley & Ahlquist are a paraphyletic
Paraphyly
A group of taxa is said to be paraphyletic if the group consists of all the descendants of a hypothetical closest common ancestor minus one or more monophyletic groups of descendants...

, artificial assemblage and one of the weakest point of their classification scheme.

Genera in taxonomic order

Family: Falconidae
  • Genus Daptrius
    Black Caracara
    The Black Caracara is a species of bird of prey in the Falconidae family. Its genus Daptrius is often considered monotypic today, though some also include the Red-throated Caracara otherwise separated in Ibycter....

    – Black Caracara
  • Genus Ibycter
    Red-throated Caracara
    The Red-throated Caracara is a social species of bird of prey in the Falconidae family. It is placed in the monotypic genus Ibycter, or sometimes united in Daptrius with the Black Caracara...

    – Red-throated Caracara (sometimes included in Daptrius)
  • Genus Phalcoboenus
    Phalcoboenus
    Phalcoboenus is a small genus of birds of prey in the Falconidae family. They are found in barren, open habitats in the Andes, Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. The four species are almost entirely allopatric. The adults are distinctive, with bare yellow, orange or red facial skin and cere, and a...

    (4 species)
  • Genus Caracara
    Caracara (genus)
    Caracara is a genus of birds of prey in the family Falconidae found throughout a large part of the Americas. They are part of a group collectively referred to as caracaras...

    – crested caracaras (2 living species, 1 extinct)
  • Genus Milvago
    Milvago
    Milvago is a genus of bird of prey in the Falconidae family.It contains the following species:* Yellow-headed Caracara, Milvago chimachima* Chimango Caracara, Milvago chimango...

    – brown caracaras (2 species)
  • Genus Herpetotheres
    Laughing Falcon
    The Laughing Falcon , also called the Snake Hawk , is a medium-sized bird of prey in the falcon family , the only member of the genus Herpetotheres. This Neotropical species is a specialist snake-eater...

    – Laughing Falcon
  • Genus Micrastur
    Forest falcon
    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...

    – forest falcons (7 species)
  • Genus Spiziapteryx – Spot-winged Falconet
  • Genus Polihierax
    Polihierax
    The pygmy falcons, Polihierax, are a genus of bird of prey in the Falconidae family.It contains the following species:* Pygmy Falcon...

    – pygmy falcons (2 species, includes Neohierax)
  • Genus Microhierax
    Microhierax
    The typical falconets, Microhierax, are a genus of bird of prey in the Falconidae family.The world's smallest carnivorous birds are the Black-thighed Falconet found throughout Southeast Asia, and the White-fronted Falconet on the island of Borneo...

    – typical falconets (5 species)
  • Genus Falco
    Falcon
    A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....

    – true falcons, hobbies and kestrels (around 37 species)

Fossil genera

  • Parvulivenator (Early Eocene
    Eocene
    The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...

     of England)
  • Stintonornis (London Clay Early Eocene of England)
  • Badiostes (Santa Cruz Early Miocene
    Miocene
    The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

     of Patagonia
    Patagonia
    Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...

    , Argentina)
  • Falconidae gen. et sp. indet. (Early Miocene of Chubut
    Chubut Province
    Chubut a province in the southern part of Argentina situated between the 42nd parallel south and the 46th parallel south , the Andes range separating Argentina from Chile, and the Atlantic ocean...

    , Argentina)
  • Falconidae gen. et sp. indet. (Pinturas Early/Middle Miocene of Argentina)
  • Pediohierax (Middle Miocene of Nebraska
    Nebraska
    Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

    , USA) – formerly Falco ramenta
  • Falconidae gen. et sp. indet. (Cerro Bandera Late Miocene of Neuquén
    Neuquén
    Neuquén is the name of the following things:* Neuquén, Argentina* Neuquén Province* Neuquén River* Neuquén Group...

    , Argentina)
  • "Sushkinia" pliocaena (Early Pliocene
    Pliocene
    The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

     of Pavlodar
    Pavlodar
    Pavlodar is a city in northeastern Kazakhstan and the capital of Pavlodar Province. It is located 350 km northeast of the national capital Astana, and 400 km southeast of the Russian city of Omsk along the Irtysh River. , the city has a population of 331710...

    , Kazakhstan
    Kazakhstan
    Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

    ) – belongs in Falco?

External links

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