Life History
FOOD
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| Video on behavior |
A wide variety of small to medium size birds (including wild pigeons, doves, trogons, tityras, tanagers, woodpeckers, parakeets, small parrots, swifts, swallows, shorebirds, and other Neotropical migrants) and bats.
BEHAVIOR
Foraging
Perches high in a dead tree or cliff, then dives on birds or bats from above or chases birds on the horizon, accelerating in long direct or climbing pursuit, often punctuated by a short stoop from above. Also hunts by stooping from tremendous heights, as Peregrine Falcons do, clutching or striking a disabling blow to its victim, then scooping it up in its net-like feet before the quarry disappears into the canopy below. It also uses a stealth strategy for capturing migrating songbirds, shorebirds, and bats, by silhouetting them against the sky at dusk and dawn.
A two-week-old chick in a typical large pothole in the |
REPRODUCTION
Nest Type
A simple scrape or depression on a grassy ledge or pothole in a high precipitous cliff face or rarely in the detris in the crotch of an emergent tree (ceiba, mahogany etc.). One record of attempted nesting in a tall palm, and another on a temple ledge at Tikal National Park, both in Guatemala.
Egg DescriptionSubelliptical in shape and variable in color— very similar to a peregrine egg—buffy white to brown, with a wash of darker speckles or spots of brown, reddish brown, or lilac. Color is sometimes concentrated at the large end of the egg, especially when laid by an older female. Eggs are relatively large for a medium sized falcon, averaging from 39 to 45 grams (roughly the size of a large bantam chicken egg) and equal in size to the eggs of most Peregrine Falcons. Average measurements are 49.9 x 38.96 mm (1.96 x 1.53 in).
Clutch Size
Female and male chicks at a cliff nest (same location
as above). The pothole is 8 feet wide at the mouth
and 5 feet high and 12 feet deep.
Female and male chicks at a cliff nest (same location
as above). The pothole is 8 feet wide at the mouth
and 5 feet high and 12 feet deep.
Two to four eggs, but almost always three. A captive female was unable to brood a four-egg clutch.
Incubation
Thirty-four days to hatch. Most incubation by female. The male may incubate when the female is off the nest.
Fledging
Chicks grow rapidly, fed mostly by their mother. Young fledge in about 45 days after hatching. Feathers reach maximum growth at about 75 days. Time to independence and subsequent dispersal patterns are unknown.
