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Red-footed Falcon

 
Red Footed Falcon

 
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Red-footed Falcon
 
 
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The Red-footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus), formerly Western Red-footed Falcon, is a bird of prey
Bird of prey

Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. Their claws and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
. It belongs to the family Falconidae
Falconidae

The falcons and caracaras are around 60 species of diurnal birds of prey that comprise the family Falconidae. The family is divided into two subfamiles, Polyborinae, which includes the caracaras and forest falcons, and Falconinae, the falcons, kestrels and falconets....
, the falcons. This bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
 is found in eastern Europe and Asia although its numbers are dwindling rapidly due to habitat loss and hunting. It is migratory
Bird migration

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather....
, wintering in Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
. It is a regular wanderer to western Europe, and in August 2004 a Red-footed Falcon was found in North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 for the first time on the island of Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard is an island off the United States east coast, to the south of Cape Cod, both forming a part of the Outer Lands region. It is often called just "the Vineyard"....
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
.

The Amur Falcon
Amur Falcon

The Amur Falcon , formerly Eastern Red-footed Falcon, is a small bird of prey of the falcon family. It breeds in south-eastern Siberia and Northern China, wintering in Southern Africa....
 was formerly included herein as a subspecies
Subspecies

In biology, subspecies is the taxonomic rank immediately subordinate to a species. A subspecies is a taxonomic group which is less distinct than the Common descent or species from which it originates....
 but it is nowadays considered well distinct.






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The Red-footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus), formerly Western Red-footed Falcon, is a bird of prey
Bird of prey

Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. Their claws and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
. It belongs to the family Falconidae
Falconidae

The falcons and caracaras are around 60 species of diurnal birds of prey that comprise the family Falconidae. The family is divided into two subfamiles, Polyborinae, which includes the caracaras and forest falcons, and Falconinae, the falcons, kestrels and falconets....
, the falcons. This bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
 is found in eastern Europe and Asia although its numbers are dwindling rapidly due to habitat loss and hunting. It is migratory
Bird migration

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather....
, wintering in Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
. It is a regular wanderer to western Europe, and in August 2004 a Red-footed Falcon was found in North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 for the first time on the island of Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard is an island off the United States east coast, to the south of Cape Cod, both forming a part of the Outer Lands region. It is often called just "the Vineyard"....
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
.

The Amur Falcon
Amur Falcon

The Amur Falcon , formerly Eastern Red-footed Falcon, is a small bird of prey of the falcon family. It breeds in south-eastern Siberia and Northern China, wintering in Southern Africa....
 was formerly included herein as a subspecies
Subspecies

In biology, subspecies is the taxonomic rank immediately subordinate to a species. A subspecies is a taxonomic group which is less distinct than the Common descent or species from which it originates....
 but it is nowadays considered well distinct. Nonetheless, it is the present species' closest relative; their relationship to other falcons is more enigmatic. They appear morphologically
Morphology (biology)

The term morphology in biology refers to form, structure and configuration of an organism. This includes aspects of the outward appearance as well as the form and structure of the internal parts like bones and organs....
 somewhat intermediate between 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 10?20 m over open country and swoop down on prey, usually small mammals, lizards or large insects....
s and hobbies
Hobby (bird)

A hobby is a fairly small, very swift falcon with long, narrow wings. There are four birds called hobby, and some others which, although termed falcon, are very similar....
 and DNA sequence
DNA sequence

A DNA sequence or genetic sequence is a succession of letters representing the primary structure of a real or hypothetical DNA molecule or strand, with the capacity to carry information as described by the central dogma of molecular biology....
 data has been unable to further resolve this question, mainly due to lack of comprehensive sampling. They might be closer to the Merlin
Merlin (bird)

The Merlin is a smallish falcon that breeds in northern North America, Europe and Asia. In North America it was once and sometimes still is colloquially called "pigeon hawk" though being a falcon it is not very closely related to true hawks....
 than to most other living falcons, or more generally related to this species and American falcons such as the American Kestrel
American Kestrel

The American Kestrel is a small falcon. This bird was colloquially known in North America as the "Sparrow Hawk". This name is misleading because it implies a connection with the Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus, which is unrelated; the latter is an accipiter rather than a falcon....
 and the Aplomado Falcon
Aplomado Falcon

The Aplomado Falcon, Falco femoralis, is a medium-sized falcon of the Americas. The species' largest contiguous range is in South America, but not in the deep interior Amazon Basin....
.

It is a medium-small, long-winged species. The adult male is all blue-grey, except for his red undertail and legs; its underwings are uniformly grey. The female has a grey back and wings, orange head and underparts, and a white face with black eye stripe and moustaches.

Young birds are brown above and buff below with dark streaks, and a face pattern like the female. Red-footed Falcons are 28-34 centimetre
Centimetre

A centimetre is a Units of measurement of length in the metric system, equal to one hundredth of a metre, which is the current International System of Units SI base unit of length....
s (11-13½ in
Inch

An inch is the name of a Units of measurement of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units....
) in length with a wingspan of 65-75 centimetres (25½-29½ in).

This is a diurnal bird of open country with some trees, often near water. Its distinctive method of hunting is shared by the Common Kestrel
Common Kestrel

The Common Kestrel is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as the European Kestrel, Eurasian Kestrel, or Old World Kestrel....
. It regularly hovers, searching the ground below, then makes a short steep dive towards the target. The Red-footed Falcon's main prey is large insects, but it will also take small mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s and birds.

This falcon is a colonial breeder, reusing the old nests of corvids, such as Rook
Rook (bird)

The Rook is a member of the Corvidae family in the passerine order of birds. Named by Linnaeus in 1758, the species name frugilegus is Latin for "food-gathering"....
s. It lays two to four eggs.

Footnotes


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