Amur Falcon
Falco amurensis
Falconiforme Order – Falconidae Family
BIOMETRICS:
Length: 30-36 cm ; Wingspan: 65-75 cm ; Weight: M: 97-155 g; F : 110-188 g
DESCRIPTION:
Amur Falcon is a small migratory falcon.
Adult male is dark grey overall, except chestnut vent and white underwing.
Hooked bill is black with orange-red cere. Eyes are dark brown with orange-red eyering. Short, bare legs and weak feet are orange-red.
Female is paler grey on upperparts, barred with dark grey. Underparts are white with dark grey streaks on chest, dark grey bars on lower breast and belly, and pale buff vent. Flight feathers and tail are dark grey, barred above with pale grey, and barred white below. Tail and flight feathers show broad dark tips.
Crown and nape are grey. Forehead is cream. Cheeks and throat are plain white. She has dark eye patch and malar stripe. Bill, eyes, legs and feet are similar to male.
Juvenile resembles female, browner on upperparts with buffy-edged feathers. Cheeks, throat and underparts are pale buff, with grey-brown streaks on chest and lower breast. Narrower tail is heavily barred with dark.
Cere, legs and feet are pale orange. Dark eye patch and malar stripe are conspicuous.
VOICE: SOUNDS BY XENO-CANTO
Amur Falcon utters shrill chattering at roost.
HABITAT:
Amur Falcon lives in open woodlands and grassy savannahs.
RANGE:
Amur Falcon breeds in south-eastern Siberia and northern China.
It winters in Southern Africa, entering on east coats from India, and returning via Arabia.
This bird performs flights of up to 11.000 km as for breeding or for wintering.
BEHAVIOUR:
Amur Falcon picks up insects from the ground, or catches them on the wing. It usually hunts at dusk from perch, sometimes on the ground, and may hover too. They feed in flocks on termites and ants outside breeding season.
In Africa, they roost in clumps of tall trees, at traditional sites. We can see hundreds to thousands of birds.
They migrate from Asia to Africa in large groups, and sometimes in mixed flocks with other falcons.
FLIGHT:
Amur Falcon has light and fast flight. It often hovers while it fans its long, rounded tail.
REPRODUCTION:
Amur Falcon nests as solitary or sometimes in small loose colonies. Nest is often and old corvidae nest or a hole in tree.
Female lays 3 to 4 eggs in May-June. Incubation lasts about 28 to 30 days. Young fledge at about one month after hatching.
This species produces one brood per year.
DIET:
Amur Falcon feeds mainly on insects such as termites, grasshoppers and beetles, small birds and sometimes amphibians.
PROTECTION / THREATS / STATUS:
Amur Falcon populations are common and not threatened.
Fr: Faucon de l’amour
All : Amurfalke
Esp : Cernícalo del Amur
Ital : Falco cuculo
Nd : Amoerroodpootvalk
Russe : Амурский кобчик
Sd : Amurfalk
Callie de Wet
GALLERY
Text by Nicole Bouglouan
Sources:
HANDBOOK OF THE BIRDS OF THE WORLD Vol 2 by Josep del Hoyo-Andrew Elliot-Jordi Sargatal - Lynx Edicions - ISBN: 8487334156
BIRDS OF PREY OF AFRICA AND ITS ISLANDS by Alan and Meg Kemp - Struik Publishers - ISBN: 1770073698
BIRDS OF AFRICA SOUTH OF THE SAHARA by Ian Sinclair and Peter Ryan - Princeton University Press Princeton and Oxford - ISBN: 0691118159
Wikipedia (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia)