The slaty-backed forest falcon (''Micrastur mirandollei'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

in subfamily Herpetotherinae of family

Falconidae The falcons and caracaras are around 65 species of Diurnality, diurnal birds of prey that make up the family Falconidae (representing all extant species in the order (biology), order Falconiformes). The family likely originated in South America d ...

, the

falcon Falcons () 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, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

s, and caracaras. It is found in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, and every mainland South American country except

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. 30 January 2023. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved January 30, 2023

Taxonomy and systematics

The slaty-backed, collared, and

Buckley's W. K. Buckley Limited is a Canadian company which produces the Buckley's brand name, brand of cold medicines. It is known for its marketing that takes deprecating pride in the syrup's unpleasant taste. It also offers children's medicine, which is s ...

forest falcons are

sister species In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

.Bierregaard, R. O. and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon (''Micrastur mirandollei''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.sbffal1.01 retrieved February 11, 2023 The slaty-backed forest falcon is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

. The population in Central America and western Colombia and Ecuador, has at times been treated as the subspecies ''M. m. extimus,'' but this separation has not been widely recognized.

Description

The slaty-backed forest falcon is long. Males weigh about and females about . Its wingspan is . Adults have slate gray upperparts, and are darker on the crown and lighter on the cheeks. Their throats and underparts are white to cream, and plain but for a few dark feather shafts making streaks. Their tail is dark slate gray with a white tip and three narrow white bars that often are indistinct. Their iris is yellowish brown to dark brown, its

cere The beak, bill, or Rostrum (anatomy), rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, wikt:grasp#Verb, grasping, and holding (in wikt:probe ...

greenish yellow, and its legs and feet bright yellow. Juveniles have dark brownish gray upperparts and off-white to yellowish buff underparts with a scaly appearance.

Distribution and habitat

The slaty-backed forest falcon is found from Costa Rica through Panama and western Colombia into western Ecuador's

Esmeraldas Province Esmeraldas () is a northwestern coastal province of Ecuador. The capital and largest city is Esmeraldas. Esmeraldas is one of the three provinces of Ecuador that borders Colombia, and it is the most northern province in the country. The provin ...

. A separate, much larger, range is found in the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

from eastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia east through Venezuela,

the Guianas The Guianas, also spelled Guyanas or Guayanas, are a geographical region in north-eastern South America. Strictly, the term refers to the three Guianas: Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, formerly British, Dutch, and French Guiana respectiv ...

, and northern Brazil to the Atlantic coast. It mostly inhabits lowland

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

, favoring undisturbed areas, but also occurs in mature

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

and sometimes in rather open landscapes. It is often found near watercourses. In elevation it occurs as high as but is mostly below .

Behavior

Movement

As far as is known the slaty-backed forest falcon is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The slaty-backed forest falcon's diet has not been detailed but is known to include birds, lizards, and snakes. It mostly hunts from the understorey to the forest's mid level but will go to the ground. It might follow

army ant The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limited ...

swarms to capture smaller birds feeding on what flees the ants.

Breeding

Nothing is known about the slaty-backed forest falcon's breeding biology. It is assumed to nest in tree cavities like other ''Micrastur'' forest falcons.

Vocalization

The slaty-backed forest falcon's primary vocalization is a "chanting series of 8-13 nasal, shouting ''kiiih'' or ''kaaah'' notes". It also makes a "high-pitched ''eek-eek-eek...''", apparently to provoke small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

s to mob it so it can catch one.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the slaty-backed forest falcon as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range and an estimated population of at least 50,000 mature individuals, though the latter is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is " dely distributed, but everywhere rare and perhaps patchily present".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q527542

slaty-backed forest falcon The slaty-backed forest falcon (''Micrastur mirandollei'') is a species of bird of prey in subfamily Herpetotherinae of family Falconidae, the falcons, and caracara (genus), caracaras. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, and every mainland South ...

Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Panama Birds of the Amazon rainforest Birds of the Guiana Shield Birds of the Atlantic Forest

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot