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Falco rufigularisbat falcon

By Mark Pacheco

Ge­o­graphic Range

The bat fal­con, Falco ru­figu­laris, is found in Mex­ico, Cen­tral and South Amer­ica. It ranges from east­ern Colom­bia east to the Guianas and Trinidad, and south to south­ern Brazil and north­ern Ar­gentina (Wei­den­saul 1996; Del Hoyo et al. 1994).

Habi­tat

Bat fal­cons in­habit the trop­i­cal rain forests. Though they occur in un­bro­ken forests, bat fal­cons seem to be able to ad­just to human dis­tur­bance and are some­times found to be more com­mon in bro­ken for­est, which in­cludes dis­turbed area, for­est edge, road cuts, river­banks, or cleared agri­cul­tural land with scat­tered trees.

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Bat fal­con adult males mea­sure 24-29 cm (8-10 in.) in length with a wingspan of 56-58 cm (18-19 in.) fe­males also range from 24-29 cm (8-10 in.) in length but have a larger wingspan, which ranges be­tween 65 and 67 cm (21-22 in.) in length. The head and upper parts of their body are black, with gray­ish edg­ing to con­tour the feath­ers from their upper back to tail coverts. Their throat and upper chest is white and tan ex­tend­ing to their neck. They have a long black tail with many fine white or gray stripes, and buff tip. The bat fal­con has deep brown irises that may help cam­ou­flage while hunt­ing at night. They also have small hooked beaks that allow the bat fal­con to eas­ily tear its meat. (Bri­tan­nica 1999-00; Del Hoyo et al. 1994).

  • Range mass
    108 to 242 g
    3.81 to 8.53 oz
  • Average mass
    148 g
    5.22 oz

Re­pro­duc­tion

The bat fal­con ap­pears to have adapted to its habi­tat and nests in nat­ural tree cav­i­ties or holes aban­doned by par­rots, in old tro­gon nests in ter­mite colonies, or on cliffs, also on pre-Colom­bian ruins, and man made struc­tures, such as sugar mill cranes. The bat fal­con lays 2-4 eggs. In­cu­ba­tion pe­ri­ods last up to 4 to 7 weeks. Within 35-40 days of hatch­ing it is fully feath­ered and able to eat whole prey on its own (Del Hoyo et al. 1994; Wei­den­saul 1996)

Be­hav­ior

Bat fal­cons are con­sid­ered a soli­tary rap­tor. An im­por­tant part of bat fal­con's time is spent hunt­ing. This type of be­hav­ior is a sign of their preda­tor na­ture. Bat fal­cons pri­mar­ily com­mu­ni­cate through vi­sual and vocal ways, often call­ing back and forth to their mate dur­ing breed­ing sea­son. Courtship for the bat fal­con be­gins in Feb­ru­ary or March, which is the mid­dle of the dry sea­son in Guatemala, Be­lize, and Mex­ico. In Trinidad, nest­ing be­gins in Feb­ru­ary, and in Colom­bia, breed­ing be­gins in Feb­ru­ary or March. In Venezuela, the bat fal­con lays its eggs in March and in Guyana, in April. In Brazil, it will lay its eggs in Au­gust, the mid­dle of dry sea­son. Both par­ent will take an ac­tive role in pro­tect­ing the nest, which may in­clude chas­ing off other rap­tors. The male pro­vides nearly all of the food dur­ing the nestling pe­riod. (Del Hoyo, El­liott, Sar­gatal 1994; Wei­den­saul 1996).

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Food Habits

The bat fal­con ap­pears to have a pref­er­ence for con­sum­ing bats, al­though they do not make up the ma­jor­ity of its diet. Their diet con­sists mainly of small birds and large in­sects, which in­clude drag­on­flies (Odonata), moths (Lep­i­doptera), large grasshop­pers (Or­th­opera), Ho­moptera, and Hy­menoptera. The diet of the bat fal­con varies by sea­sons and is di­vided into sum­mer and win­ter diets. This shift in diet is af­fected by the change in the most abun­dant and nu­tri­tious prey ob­tain­able. The sum­mer diet con­sists of mostly birds and dur­ing win­ter, mostly in­sects. The bat fal­con hunts dur­ing pe­ri­ods of dusk to dawn and is con­sid­ered noc­tur­nal (Wei­den­saul 1996; Del Hoyo et al. 1994).

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

none

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

none

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

This species is not glob­ally threat­ened. Falco ru­figu­laris tol­er­ates and can even ben­e­fit from patchy, small scale de­for­esta­tion. The bat fal­con has stopped breed­ing in areas of South Amer­ica where the for­est has sig­nif­i­cantly changed to agri­cul­ture. This type of be­hav­ior is likely to recur in other places through­out the range (del Hoyo et al. 1994).

Con­trib­u­tors

Mark Pacheco (au­thor), Fresno City Col­lege, Carl Jo­hans­son (ed­i­tor), Fresno City Col­lege.

Glossary

Neotropical

living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.

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acoustic

uses sound to communicate

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.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

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.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

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).

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

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.

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

tactile

uses touch to communicate

visual

uses sight to communicate

Ref­er­ences

Del Hoyo, J., A. El­liott, J. Sar­gatal. 1994. Hand­book of the birds of the World. Vol 2 New World Vul­tures to Guineafowl. Barcelona: Lynx Edi­cions.

En­cy­clo­pe­dia Bri­tan­nica, 1999. Ac­cessed July,9 2000 at http://​www.​britannica.​com.

Wei­den­saul, S. 1996. Rap­tors: Birds of prey. New York, NY: Lyons & Bur­ford.

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Classification

Classification

  • Kingdom Animalia animals
  • Phylum Chordata chordates
  • Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
  • Class Aves birds
  • Order Falconiformes diurnal birds of prey
  • Family Falconidae falcons
  • Genus Falco falcons and kestrels
  • Species Falco rufigularis bat falcon