Barred Forest-falcon
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Order: Falconiformes
Family: Falconidae

[Photo] Barred Forest-falcon (Micrastur ruficollis), halcon. Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Source: Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/morales_cauca/832419454/). Date: July 7, 2007. Author: amoralesrozo1 (www.flickr.com/photos/morales_cauca/).

The Barred Forest-falcon (Micrastur ruficollis) is a species of bird of prey in the Falconidae family. It is found in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

In Central America, the Barred Forest-Falcon is generally restricted to mature tropical forests. In South America, however, the Barred Forest-Falcon lives in other kinds of forests. For example, in Amazonia it occurs most often in second-growth forests, gallery forests, tidal swamp forests, semideciduous forests and forest edges. 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.

The adult male is dark slate grey above; his tail tipped with white and having three narrow white bars. The throat is pale grey, shading to the darker slate of the crown. The rest of his under parts, including the under-wing coverts are white, finely and clearly barred with black. The upper breast is a darker grey. Primary flight feathers are dark brownish grey with off white bars on the inner webs. The eyes are light orange brown; the bill black, becoming dull yellow at base of the lower mandible; the cere, lores, orbit and legs are orange-yellow.

Barred Forest-Falcons mainly utilize mature, "upland" forest. Forest-falcons, like most falconids, do not build a nest, and lay their eggs in cavities in trees. Clutches are of two or three eggs. Laying occurred mainly late in the dry season, with hatching taking place at the onset of the rainy season, a time of increasing prey abundance. Eggs hatch 33-35 days after laying, and nestlings fledge 35-44 days after hatching. Radio-tagged fledglings dispersed from their parents' territories within four to seven weeks after fledging, presumably achieving independence at that time. Nesting territories were occupied year after year. High nest and mate fidelity.

This species feed primarily upon birds, mammals and reptiles. Like Accipiter hawks, they often hunt prey by sitting quietly on tree branches and waiting for their victims to appear. When the latter arrive, the forest-falcons quickly ambush them, attempting to catch them with a brief, flying pursuit. However, forest-falcons also use other techniques to hunt prey, such as chasing prey on foot, following army ant swarms and acoustical luring of birds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_Forest-falcon

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