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One of the 4 falcons on WAnimals

Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis)

Birds · Falconiformes · Falconidae

Bat Falcon

Falco rufigularis

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk.

Spotted something wrong?

The bat falcon is a small, compact falcon, black with a white or orange throat and breast and a finely barred belly. It hunts at dawn and dusk, in the half-light, taking advantage of the mass emergence of bats from their roosts and of the flight of swifts and swallows. It watches from the crown of an emergent tree or from an aerial and dives at great speed.

Weight

129 g – 202 g

Size

23 cm – 30 cm

Life expectancy

12 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

In pairs

Usually lives in pairs, sometimes for life.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

Rainforest
19countries72parks10same family

AI-generated images: illustrations, not photographs.

Fun facts

  • It is a specialist of the half-light: it hunts in the twenty or thirty minutes of dusk when the bats come out and the swifts are still flying, a narrow window that almost no other raptor exploits.
  • It has adapted well to tropical cities, where it hunts over the bat colonies that occupy buildings and beneath the street lights that concentrate insects and the animals that prey on them.

Life cycle and biology

Skeleton type
Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat and environment
Forest edges, clearings, riverbanks and wooded urban areas of tropical America
Sexual maturity
12 months
Gestation / incubation
31 days of incubation
Litter / clutch size
3 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falco_rufigularis

Where to find it

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The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.

Where to see it

Parks and dive sites where this species has been documented — showing 10 of 72.

Related species

Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Bat Falcon — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.

Same taxonomic family
Same taxonomic family
Shares a park
Shares a park
Shares a park
Shares a park

Keep exploring

Based on what we already know about bat falcon.

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See full glossary
This page in other languages: Español · Deutsch · Français · Português · Italiano
See its range on the interactive map→
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CountriesMexico
ParksSian Ka'anMexico
TagsCarnivore
Carnivore
Diurnal
In pairs
Bird
Rainforest

South America10

North America9

Mexico
Costa Rica
Colombia
Peru
Brazil
Guatemala
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Colombia
Ecuador
Guyana
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Venezuela
Belize
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Trinidad and Tobago