ORANGE-BREASTED FALCON

The 'Orange-breasted Falcon' ('''Falco deiroleucus''') is a bird of the falcon family. It is probably closely related to and looks like a larger version of the Bat Falcon. These two, in turn, are probably closest to the Aplomado Falcon and constitute a rather old American lineage of ''Falco''s^[1].
It is found from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. It's a medium sized bird (average length 35 centimeters). It is a bird predator, with strong talons that enable it to catch prey in flight, and is considered by some - as the German-Brazilian ornithologist Helmut Sick - as filling the ecological niche of the Peregrine Falcon as a breeding species in Tropical America. The Orange-breasted Falcon, however, seems to favor more heavily wooded habitats than the Peregrine, therefore the species does not seem to be in ecological competition with Peregrine Falcons wintering in South America.

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Footnotes

References

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Footnotes

1. 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)

References

★ Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern.

★ (1994): 46. Orange-breasted Falcon. ''In:'' (editors): ''Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 2 (New World Vultures to Guineafowl)'': 268, plate 27. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-15-6

★ (1994): Phylogenetic relationships among falcon species (genus Falco) according to DNA sequence variation of the cytochrome b gene. ''In:'' (editors): ''Raptor conservation today'': 593-599. PDF fulltext

★ (1999): Phylogeny of the Falconidae inferred from molecular and morphological data. ''Auk'' '116'(1): 116–130. 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. (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. (HTML abstract)

★ (1998): Molecular systematics of holarctic raptors (Order Falconiformes). ''In:'' (editors): ''Holarctic Birds of Prey'': 29-48. Adenex & WWGBP. PDF fulltext

External links

★ Orange-breasted Falcon photo gallery VIREO

★ Stamp photo (for Bolivia)

★ Orange-breasted Falcon videos on the Internet Bird Collection