|
Falco concolor (Sooty falcon)
Roetvalk [Afrikaans]; Woestijnvalk, Leigrijze valk
[Dutch]; Faucon concolore [French]; Schieferfalke, Blaufalke [German];
Falcão-sombrio [Portuguese]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) > Order: Falconiformes >
Family: Falconidae
Distribution and habitat
Breeds on offshore islands of the Red Sea and
Persian Gulf, southern Pakistan and in Africa from southern Egypt to
Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania; in the non-breeding season it heads
south to Madagascar and is a vagrant to the east coast of southern Africa. It
generally prefers tropical and subtropical habitats, either coastal or marshy,
such as moist savanna and the edges of forest.
|
 |
|
Distribution of Sooty falcon in southern Africa,
based on statistical smoothing of the records from first SA Bird Atlas
Project (©
Animal Demography unit, University of
Cape Town; smoothing by Birgit Erni and Francesca Little). Colours range
from dark blue (most common) through to yellow (least common). |
Movements and migrations
Non-breeding migrant to Madagascar and
sometimes southern Africa, staying from about mid November to mid
April.
Food
It mainly eats flying insects, bats and small birds (such
as swallows and
swifts), hunting from a high perch or from
high up in the air, catching its prey by vertically diving to intercept them at great speed.
References
-
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
|
