Nankeen Kestrel

Scientific Name: Falco cenchroides

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Open areas throughout Australia, Papua New Guinea, and nearby Islands. Occasionally found in New Zealand.

Field Notes: Small falcon with rufous upper parts and white underparts. Male with grey cap, female with rufous as above.

Personal Notes: Several of these birds seen on a lovely drive between the Blue Mountains and Canberra, Australia.

Prairie Falcon

Scientific Name: Falco mexicanus

Population Estimate: 40K, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year round in grasslands of the American West. Extends up some into Canada and more extensively into Mexico.

Field Notes: Large for a falcon, medium-sized for a hawk. Fairly uniform pale brown back. Whitish chest with brown spots and bars. White supercilicary, dark mustache mark on face, dark ear patch. In flight, all light underneath except for dark "armpits," no tail stripes.

Personal Notes: A surprise find while hiking Painted Rock Canyon (looking for the elusive Canyon Wren) in Wyoming, then we saw a pair the following week at Devil's Tower. The top photo was from a nesting site on Deseret Ranch in Utah. 

Northern Crested Caracara

Scientific Name: Caracara cheriway

Population Estimate: 2M

Range / Habitat: Subtropical / tropical lowland shrub land and open areas in Mexico, Central America and northern South America.

Field Notes: Large raptor with white head, neck and belly. Dark cap and large orange bill is distinctive. Dark back and tail. In flight, two pale patches on wrist when seen from above. They are primarily scavengers. Laughing Falcon has dark mask and yellow cap. Yellow-headed Caracara has all yellow head.

Personal Notes: Seen en route from Carara NP to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Yellow-headed Caracara

Scientific Name: Milvago chimachima

Population Estimate: 1M

Range / Habitat: Subtropical / tropical lowland shrub land and open areas in southern Central America and throughout South America.

Field Notes: Large raptor with yellow head, neck and belly. Thin dark eye stripe. Dark back and tail. In flight, two yellow patches on wrist when seen from above. They are primarily scavengers. Laughing Falcon has dark mask. Crested Caracara has distinctive head pattern.

Personal Notes: Seen en route from Carara NP to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

American Kestrel

Scientific Name: Falco sparverius

Population Estimate: 6M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: The American kestrel is widespread in open areas throughout the Americas, from central Alaska and Canada, south discontinuously through the United States and Central America, to most of South America, excluding Amazonia. It is also found throughout the West Indies. During the winter, those birds at the most northerly and southerly latitudes may migrate towards more temperate or tropical regions.

Field Notes: A small falcon, and the only kestrel found in the Americas. This colourful kestrel displays marked sexual dimorphism, and there is also considerable variation between individuals. Typically, the male has an orange back, flecked with black, a solid red tail with a wide, black tip, blue-grey wings and head cap, and black markings on the face and belly. The larger female, however, lacks the blue-grey markings and has barred, brown upperparts and streaked underparts.

Personal Notes: Kirby the Kestrel is still our favorite!

Peregrine Falcon

Scientific Name: Falco Peregrinus

Population Estimate: 1.2M

Range / Habitat: The peregrine falcon has a worldwide distribution, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. The name ‘peregrine’ means ‘wanderer’, with most northern populations undergoing long-distance migrations to winter further south.

Field Notes: The Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), also known as the Peregrine. The underwing and tail are also barred, and the pale throat and cheeks contrast with a broad, dark ‘moustache’ stripe. The facial skin and legs of the peregrine falcon are yellow to orange, and the beak is bluish, tinged yellow at the base and black at the tip. The female peregrine falcon is up to 20 percent larger than the male, and usually has more heavily marked underparts. Juveniles can be distinguished by the browner plumage, streaked rather than barred underparts, and blue-grey or greenish legs and facial skin .

Personal Notes:

Bat Falcon

Scientific Name: Falco rufigularis

Population Estimate: 500K to 5M

Location of Sighting: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Date of Sighting: January, 2010

Notes: Unmistakable small falcon.

Common Kestrel

Scientific Name: Falco tinnunculus

Population Estimate: 5M

Range / Habitat: Common and widely distributed throughout Britain. The kestrel has a wide distribution in the rest of the world, from Europe and North Africa, through Eurasia, the Middle East, India, China and Japan.

Field Notes: Small bird of prey, often seen hovering over farmland and at the sides of motorways. The sexes are distinct; in males the rump and tail are bluish grey and unbarred, whereas in females they are brownish-red with dark barring. Their plumage is mainly light chestnut brown with blackish spots on the upperside and buff with narrow blackish streaks on the underside; the remiges are also blackish. Unlike most raptors, they display sexual colour dimorphism with the male having fewer black spots and streaks, as well as a blue-grey cap and tail.

Personal Notes: Seen at Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, London.