Falcon

For other uses, see Falcon (disambiguation) and Falcons (disambiguation).

Falcon
Temporal range: Late Miocene to present
Brown falcon (Falco berigora) in Victoria, Australia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Falconiformes
Family: Falconidae
Subfamily: Falconinae
Genus: Falco
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Falco subbuteo[1]
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

38; see text.

Synonyms
  • Aesalon
  • Lithofalco
  • Tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1766
  • Hierofalco Cuvier, 1817
  • Cerchneis Boie, 1826
  • Hypotriorchis Boie, 1826
  • Rhynchodon Nitzsch, 1829
  • Ieracidea Gould, 1838
  • Hieracidea Strickland, 1841 (unjustified emendation[2][3][4]
  • Gennaia Kaup, 1847
  • Jerafalco Kaup, 1850 (unjustified emendation)
  • Harpe Bonaparte, 1855 (non Lacepède 1802:[5] preoccupied)
  • Dissodectes Sclater, 1864
  • Harpa Sharpe, 1874 (non Pallas 1774: preoccupied)
  • Gennadas Heine & Reichenow, 1890[6] (unjustified emendation)
  • Nesierax Oberholser, 1899
  • Nesihierax Dubois, 1902 (unjustified emendation)
  • Asturaetus De Vis, 1906 (non Asturaetos Brehm 1855: preoccupied)
  • Plioaetus Richmond, 1908
  • Sushkinia Tugarinov, 1935 (non Martynov 1930: preoccupied) – see below

Falcons (/ˈfɒlkən, ˈfɔːl-, ˈfæl-/) are birds of prey in the genus Falco, which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies,[7] and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels.[7][8] Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.[9]

Adult falcons have thin, tapered wings, which enable them to fly at high speed and change direction rapidly. Fledgling falcons, in their first year of flying, have longer flight feathers, which make their configuration more like that of a general-purpose bird such as a broadwing. This makes flying easier while still learning the aerial skills required to be effective hunters like the adults.

The falcons are the largest genus in the Falconinae subfamily of Falconidae, which also includes two other subfamilies comprising caracaras and a few other species of "falcons". All these birds kill prey with their beaks, using a tomial "tooth" on the side of their beaks — unlike the hawks, eagles and other larger birds of prey from the unrelated family Accipitridae, who use talons on their feet.

The largest falcon is the gyrfalcon at up to 65 cm (26 in) in length. The smallest falcon species is the pygmy falcon, which measures just 20 cm (7.9 in). As with hawks and owls, falcons exhibit sexual dimorphism, with the females typically larger than the males, thus allowing a wider range of prey species.[10]

As is the case with many birds of prey, falcons have exceptional powers of vision; the visual acuity of one species has been measured at 2.6 times that of human eyes.[11] They are incredibly fast fliers, with the Peregrine falcons having been recorded diving at speeds of 320 km/h (200 mph), making them the fastest-moving creatures on Earth; the fastest recorded dive attained a vertical speed of 390 km/h (240 mph).[12]

  1. ^ "Falconidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  2. ^ Strickland, H.E. (February 1841). "XLVIII. Commentary on Mr. G R. Gray's 'Genera of Birds.' 8vo. London, 1840". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. Series 1. 6 (39): 416. hdl:2027/nnc1.1001656368. Retrieved 8 February 2024 – via HathiTrust.
  3. ^ "Hieracidea Strickland, 1841". WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species. 26 April 2021. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  4. ^ "FALNOV.pdf" (PDF). New Zealand Birds Online (published 3 September 2020). 6 March 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024. (Text extracted from Gill, B.J.; Bell, B.D.; Chambers, G.K.; Medway, D.G.; Palma, R.L.; Scofield, R.P.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Worthy, T.H. (2010). Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica (4th ed.). Wellington, Te Papa Press and Ornithological Society of New Zealand. pp. 174–176.)
  5. ^ Friedmann, Herbert (1950). The birds of North and Middle America: a descriptive catalog of the higher groups, genera, species, and subspecies of birds known to occur in North America, ... Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum Bulletin, no. 50, part 11. United States Government Printing Office. p. 615. hdl:2027/osu.32435029597671. Retrieved 9 February 2024 – via HathiTrust.
  6. ^ Richmond, Charles W. (1902). List of generic terms proposed for birds during the years 1890 to 1900, inclusive, to which are added names omitted by Waterhouse in his "Index generum avium," ... Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Vol. 24. Washington: Smithsonian Institution / Government Printing Office. p. 685. hdl:2027/coo.31924090189725. Retrieved 9 February 2024 – via HathiTrust.
  7. ^ a b Oberprieler, Ulrich; Cillié, Burger (2009). The raptor guide of Southern Africa. Game Parks Publishing. ISBN 9780620432238.
  8. ^ Sale, Richard (28 July 2016). Falcons (Collins New Naturalist Library, Book 132). HarperCollins UK. ISBN 9780007511433.
  9. ^ Cenizo, Marcos; Noriega, Jorge I.; Reguero, Marcelo A. (2016). "A stem falconid bird from the Lower Eocene of Antarctica and the early southern radiation of the falcons". Journal of Ornithology. 157 (3): 885. Bibcode:2016JOrni.157..885C. doi:10.1007/s10336-015-1316-0. hdl:11336/54190. S2CID 15517037.
  10. ^ Krüger, Oliver (2005). "The Evolution of Reversed Sexual Dimorphism in Hawks, Falcons and Owls: a comparative study". Evolutionary Ecology. 19 (5): 467–486. doi:10.1007/s10682-005-0293-9. S2CID 22181702.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference j1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "The Speed of Animals" in The New Book of Knowledge. Grolier Academic Reference. 2003. p. 278. ISBN 071720538X