The orange-breasted falcon (''Falco deiroleucus'') is a

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify f ...

bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predat ...

in the family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It is found in southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Panama, and either definitely or probably in every South American country except Chile and Uruguay.Berry, R., C. L. Wood, and B. L. Sullivan (2020). Orange-breasted Falcon (''Falco deiroleucus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.orbfal1.01 retrieved February 15, 2023Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. 30 January 2023. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved January 30, 2023

Taxonomy and systematics

The orange-breasted falcon and the

bat falcon The bat falcon (''Falco rufigularis'') is a falcon that is a resident breeder in tropical Mexico, Central and South America, Trinidad. It was long known as ''Falco albigularis''; the names ''Falco fusco-coerulescens'' or ''Falco fuscocaerulesce ...

(''F. rufigularis'') share plumage and vocal characteristics and may be

sister species In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 30 January 2023. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved January 30, 2023 Those two appear to be closely related to the

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 was long known as ''Falco fusco-coerulescens'' or ''Fal ...

(''F. femoralis''). The orange-breasted falcon is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

Description

Male orange-breasted falcons are long and weigh . Females are long and weigh . Of all the falcons, this species has the greatest difference in size between the sexes. It is a rather husky, large-headed, bird. The sexes have similar plumage, and the species resembles the smaller bat falcon. Adults have a black head and bluish black upperparts with paler blue-gray edge on the feathers. Their throat and sides of the neck are white and their upper breast is buffy rufous orange that also extends onto the sides of the neck. The ratio of white to orange varies among individuals. Their lower breast is black with coarse reddish brown bars, somewhat lighter on the flanks. Their belly, thighs, and undertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are s ...

are the same buffy rufous orange as the upper breast. Their

cere The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food ...

, the bare skin around the eye, and their legs and feet are usually bright yellow, but may be pale yellow to dull bluish green. Their iris is dark brown. Immatures are paler and less sharply marked than adults. Their back and tail are dark brownish, their underparts mostly pale buffy with dark brown barring on the breast. Their bare parts are dull bluish green that become more yellow with age.

Distribution and habitat

The orange-breasted falcon formerly was found from southern Mexico all the way to northern Argentina. Its range is now much reduced. The only fairly recent records in Middle America are from Belize, Guatemala, and Panama, though it might still be present in southern Mexico. It is extremely rare or

extirpate Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

ed in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. There are no records in El Salvador. The species is present though rare in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Its status is uncertain in Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Specimens exist from all of this last list of countries, and most are believed to have a few resident pairs. Except in a very few locations it is very sparsely distributed. Knowledge of its distribution is clouded by the species' resemblance to the much more widespread and populous bat falcon. The orange-breasted falcon is dependent of tropical rain- and

semi-deciduous Semi-deciduous or semi-evergreen is a botanical term which refers to plants that lose their foliage for a very short period, when old leaves fall off and new foliage growth is starting. This phenomenon occurs in tropical and sub-tropical woody spe ...

forest with cliffs for nesting. It favors uninterrupted mature forest but also occurs in a mosaic landscape of forest and more open areas.

Predation

Black-and-white hawk-eagle The black-and-white hawk-eagle (''Spizaetus melanoleucus'', formerly ''Spizastur melanoleucus'') is a bird of prey species in the eagle and hawk family (Accipitridae). It is found throughout a large part of tropical America, from southern Mexic ...

s (''Spizaetus melanoleucus'') and

stygian owl The stygian owl (''Asio stygius'') is a medium-sized "typical owl" in subfamily Striginae. It is found in Mexico, parts of Central America, Cuba, Hispaniola, and 10 countries in South America.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of ...

s (''Asio stygius'') are known predators of the orange-breasted falcon in Belize.

Black vulture The black vulture (''Coragyps atratus''), also known as the American black vulture, Mexican vulture, zopilote, urubu, or gallinazo, is a bird in the New World vulture family whose range extends from the northeastern United States to Peru, Cen ...

s (''Coragyps atratus'') occcur throughout Middle and South America. Their effect on the orange-breasted falcon appears to be through usurpation of nest sites. Falcon breeding success in a Guatemalan study was much greater at nests protected from Black Vultures. Africanized bees colonize the same type of cliffs as the falcons; no direct effects have been documented but the bees are known to affect other bird species. There is a

camera trap A camera trap is a camera that is automatically triggered by a change in some activity in its vicinity, like presence of an animal or a human being. It is typically equipped with a motion sensor – usually a passive infrared (PIR) senso ...

record of a vampire bat (''Desmodontinae'' sp.) feeding on an incubating female orange-breasted falcon.

Behavior

Movement

Orange-breasted falcon pairs occupy their territories year-round. Young disperse when independent but the distance typically traveled is not known.

Feeding

The orange-breasted falcon preys on a very wide variety of birds and also bats. Forty-five species of birds, of 22 families, have been documented as prey in Belize and Guatemala. It usually hunts above the forest canopy, either by diving from a cliff or dead treetop or by stooping from great height. "It also uses a stealth strategy for capturing migrating songbirds, shorebirds, and bats, by silhouetting them against the sky at dusk and dawn."

Breeding

The orange-breasted falcon's nest is a scrape or depression, usually on a cliff ledge or pothole, though a pair has nested on a temple in Guatemala's Tikal National Park. There are also a few records of nesting in detritus caught in the crotch of a large emergent tree. The clutch size is usually three eggs but can be two or four. The incubation period is about 30 to 34 days and fledging occurs about 40 to 45 days after hatch. The female does most of the incubating and provisioning of nestlings. The time to independence after fledging is not known.

Bathing

An orange-breasted falcon purposely crashed into leaves of trees with water gathered on them, apparently as a form of bathing.

Vocalization

Both sexes of the orange-breasted falcon are highly vocal when breeding. Their aggresive defense call is "a rapid-fire ''key-key-key-key''...repeated over and over until the threat subsides". The call has also been described as "''kyowh-kyowh-kyowh''". Pairs utter soft chirps or piping sounds as part of courtship.

Status

The IUCN has assessed the orange-breasted falcon as Near Threatened. Though it nominally has a large range, the species is sparsely distributed in it. Its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. Clearing of forest for timber, agriculture, and ranching is the principal threat. Black vultures and Africanized bees are known or suspected to affect nesting success.

The Peregrine Fund The Peregrine Fund (named after the bird of prey of the same name the peregrine falcon) is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves threatened and endangered birds of prey worldwide. The successful recovery of the peregrine falco ...

captive breeds orange-breasted falcons. Since 2007 the organization has bred and released 56 falcons into the wild in Belize. As of 2013, 23 had become independent and some have paired with wild bred birds and entered the local breeding population.

References

External links

Stamp photo
(for Bolivia) {{Taxonbar, from=Q383789 orange-breasted falcon Birds of Mexico Birds of Central America Birds of South America Birds of the Amazon Basin Birds of Brazil Birds of the Guianas Birds of Bolivia Birds of Paraguay orange-breasted falcon