Geographic Range
Laughing falcons are found in the neotropical region. They are most common in Central
America and tropical South America.
- Biogeographic Regions
- neotropical
Habitat
Laughing falcon habitat includes open parts of tall forests as well as deforested
country with scattered trees. Laughing falcons can also be found around forest clearings
and edges. They can be found from sea level to elevations of 2500 m.
- Habitat Regions
- tropical
- terrestrial
- Terrestrial Biomes
- forest
- rainforest
- Other Habitat Features
- agricultural
Physical Description
Herpetotheres cachinnans
typically has a large creamy yellow or whitish head with black coloring around its
large owl-sized eyes creating what looks like a mask. It has a thick yellow bill.
Its wings are short and only reach to the base of its tail. The cream colored tail
is striped with black. Adults weigh between 400 and 800 g, are 40 to 47 cm in length
and have wingspans of 25 to 31 cm. There is little size difference between the sexes,
however, the female has a slightly longer tail and is slightly heavier.
- Other Physical Features
- endothermic
- bilateral symmetry
- Sexual Dimorphism
- female larger
Reproduction
There is little information about mating systems for laughing falcons. Most falcons
(family
Falconidae
) are monogamous and they usually nest as solitary pairs. Laughing falcons use vocal
performances to attract mates. Often pairs will sing in duets for minutes at a time
near dusk and dawn.
The breeding season for laughing falcons varies with latitude. They usually lay one
to two eggs per clutch.
No information was available about the time to hatching for laughing falcons, however,
for falcons in general hatching occurs after 45 to 50 days and the chicks fledge in
about 57 days.
- Key Reproductive Features
- iteroparous
- seasonal breeding
- gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
- sexual
- fertilization
- oviparous
The parents share the incubation duties, although toward the time of hatching the
female is reluctant to move from the nest. After the egg has hatched (45 to 50 days)
the male assumes the role of hunter and the female tends to the young. It is extremely
rare for a male laughing falcon to feed the young. No information was available regarding
when parents stop feeding the young. However, in general, birds of prey decrease
feeding slowly over time until the young are forced to fly from the nest and find
food.
- Parental Investment
- no parental involvement
- altricial
-
pre-hatching/birth
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
protecting
-
pre-weaning/fledging
-
provisioning
- male
- female
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
provisioning
-
pre-independence
-
provisioning
- male
- female
-
provisioning
Lifespan/Longevity
There was no information available regarding the lifespan of laughing falcons in the
wild. The longest recorded lifespan in captivty is 14 years.
Behavior
Laughing falcons are generally solitary birds except during mating. They are crepuscular (active at dusk and dawn) and defend territories. Their most distinguishable behavior is the "laughing" call. They call in duets with the opposite sex for several minutes producing loud sounds that resemble laughter.
- Key Behaviors
- flies
- glides
- crepuscular
- motile
- territorial
Home Range
We do not have information on home range for this species at this time.
Communication and Perception
Laughing falcons communicate with a "laughing" call. They call in duets with the opposite sex for several minutes producing loud sounds that resemble laughter.
- Communication Channels
- acoustic
Food Habits
The primary diet of laughing falcons consists of small snakes. The birds hunt from
an open perch and then pounce on the snake. It is possible hear a thud as the bird
kills its prey. Laughing falcons grip the snake behind the head, sometimes breaking
it off. They have been known to occasionally eat lizards, bats, rodents and fish.
- Primary Diet
-
carnivore
- eats terrestrial vertebrates
- Animal Foods
- mammals
- reptiles
- fish
Predation
We do not have information on predation for this species at this time.
Ecosystem Roles
Because of their feeding habits, laughing falcons have an impact on the populations of the prey they eat.
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
There is a rare practice called falconry in which a bird is trained to seek and kill prey for humans. Although there is no information stating that this particular species of falcon is used in falconry, it is a possibility that they were used in the past.
- Positive Impacts
- pet trade
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
The negative impact that laughing falcons have on humans has been greatly exaggerated.
Many farmers dislike birds of prey in general because they claim that the birds kill
their livestock. For this reason they have been persecuted for years, sometimes to
the point of extinction.
Conservation Status
Laughing falcons are listed as Appendix II by CITES.
Additional Links
Contributors
Alaine Camfield (editor), Animal Diversity Web.
Anna Bobinsky (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (editor), Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
- Neotropical
-
living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- tropical
-
the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.
- terrestrial
-
Living on the ground.
- forest
-
forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.
- rainforest
-
rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.
- agricultural
-
living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture.
- iteroparous
-
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
- seasonal breeding
-
breeding is confined to a particular season
- sexual
-
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
- fertilization
-
union of egg and spermatozoan
- oviparous
-
reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.
- altricial
-
young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.
- crepuscular
-
active at dawn and dusk
- motile
-
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
- territorial
-
defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- pet trade
-
the business of buying and selling animals for people to keep in their homes as pets.
- carnivore
-
an animal that mainly eats meat
- endothermic
-
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
- bilateral symmetry
-
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
References
Brown, L., D. Amadon. 1968. Eagles, Hawks, and Falcons of the World . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Ferguson-Lees, J., D. Christie. 2001. Raptors of the World . London: Christopher Helm.
Skutch, F. 1999. Trogons, Laughing Falcons and other Neotropical Birds . College Station, Texas: Texas A & M University Press.
del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, J. Sargatal. 1994. Handbook of Birds of the World . Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.