Bat Falcon

Taxobox
name = Bat Falcon


image_width =
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Falconiformes
familia = Falconidae
genus = "Falco"
species = "F. rufigularis"
binomial = "Falco rufigularis"
binomial_authority = Daudin, 1800
synonyms =
*"Falco albigularis"
Daudin, 1800
*"Falco fuscocaerulescens"
Vieillot, 1817 (modern spelling)
*"Falco fusco-coerulescens"
Vieillot, 1817 (original spelling)

The Bat Falcon ("Falco rufigularis") is a falcon that is a resident breeder in tropical Mexico, Central and South America and Trinidad. It was long known as "Falco albigularis"; the name "Falco fusco-coerulescens" or "Falco fuscocaerulescens", long used for the Aplomado Falcon, are now believed to refer to the present species (AOU 1948).

The female Bat Falcon, at 30.5 cm length, is much larger than the 23 cm long male. Adults have a black back, head and tail. The throat, upper breast and neck sides are creamy white, the lower breast and belly are black, finely barred white, and the thighs and lower belly are orange. Young birds are similar but with a buffy throat. The call of this species is a high pitched "ke-ke-ke" like American Kestrel.

It is probably closely related to and looks like a small version of the Orange-breasted Falcon. These two, in turn, are probably closest to the Aplomado Falcon and constitute a rather old American lineage of "Falco"s. [Probably diverging from their relatives some 8-5 million years ago, during the Late Miocene. See Birregard (1994), Helbig "et al." (1994), Wink "et al." (1998), Griffiths (1999), Groombridge "et al." (2002), Griffiths "et al." (2004)]

This small dark bird of prey inhabits open woodlands and forest clearings. Bat Falcons perch conspicuously on high open snags, from which they launch aerial attacks on their prey. They hunt bats, birds and large insects such as dragonflies. The smaller male takes more insects, and the female more birds and bats. The flight is direct and powerful. This fierce little falcon is partly crepuscular, as the bats in its diet suggest. It lays 2-3 brown eggs in an unlined tree hole nest.

Footnotes

References

* (1948): Twenty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union check-list of North American birds. "Auk" 65(3): 438-443. [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v065n03/p0438-p0443.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (1950): The home life of the bat falcon, "Falco albigularis" Daudin. "Zoologica (New York)" 35(4): 69-86.
*|year=2004|id=49507|title=Falco rufigularis|downloaded=09 May 2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
* (1994): 45. Bat Falcon. "In:" aut|del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (editors): "Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 2 (New World Vultures to Guineafowl)": 267-268, plate 27. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-15-6
* (1991): "A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago" (2nd edition). Comstock Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2
* (2003): "Birds of Venezuela". Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
* (1994): Phylogenetic relationships among falcon species (genus Falco) according to DNA sequence variation of the cytochrome b gene. "In:" aut|Meyburg, B.-U. & Chancellor, R.D. (editors): "Raptor conservation today": 593-599. [http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/institute/fak14/ipmb/phazb/pubwink/1994/4.%201994.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (1999): Phylogeny of the Falconidae inferred from molecular and morphological data. "Auk" 116(1): 116–130. [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v116n01/p0116-p0130.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (2004): Phylogeny of the Falconidae (Aves): a comparison of the efficacy of morphological, mitochondrial, and nuclear data. "Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution" 32(1): 101–109. doi|10.1016/j.ympev.2003.11.019 (HTML abstract)
* (2002): A molecular phylogeny of African kestrels with reference to divergence across the Indian Ocean. "Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution" 25(2): 267–277. DOI|10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00254-3 (HTML abstract)
* (1998): Molecular systematics of holarctic raptors (Order Falconiformes). "In:" aut|Chancellor, R.D., Meyburg, B.-U. & Ferrero, J.J. (editors): "Holarctic Birds of Prey": 29-48. Adenex & WWGBP. [http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/institute/fak14/ipmb/phazb/pubwink/1998/31.%201998.pdf PDF fulltext]

External links

* [http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/especie.phtml?idEspecie=851 Bat Falcon videos] on the Internet Bird Collection
* [http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/3204500.htm Stamps] (for Suriname) with RangeMap
* [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/search.html?Form=Search&SEARCHBY=Common&KEYWORDS=bat+falcon&showwhat=images&AGE=All&SEX=All&ACT=All&Search=Search&VIEW=All&ORIENTATION=All&RESULTS=24 Bat Falcon photo gallery] VIREO [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/species_image.php?species=Falco+rufigularis Photo-High Res]
* [http://www.arthurgrosset.com/sabirds/photos/falruf6752.jpgPhoto] ; [http://www.arthurgrosset.com/sabirds/batfalcon.html Article] arthurgrosset
* [http://www.ec.gc.ca/Birdsguide/images/Birds/Thumbnails/Y19_5.gifGraphic-(for description)] ; [http://www.ec.gc.ca/Birdsguide/Species.asp?lang=1&kgrp=12&kidx=2018&kid=54&sep=2 Article] Birdsguide
* [http://www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/falconiformes/images/faucon.des.chauves-souris.lohe.1g.jpgPhoto-Medium Res] ; [http://www.oiseaux.net/photos/louis.s.hegedus/faucon.des.chauves-souris.1.html Article] oiseaux
* [http://www.tropicalbirding.com/tripReports/TR_Brazil_Aug_2005_files/Bat-Falcon-1.jpgPhoto-Medium Res] ; [http://www.tropicalbirding.com/tripReports/TR_Brazil_Aug_2005.htm Article] tropicalbirding: "SE Brazil and the Pantanal"