Bat Falcon

Falco rufigularis

Hunts bats and swifts at dawn and dusk. Nests in tall snags above the canopy and names its prey accurately.

Population: At least 500,000 mature individuals; population trend decreasing
Habitat: Humid lowland tropical forest, forest edges, gallery forest, palm savanna, and semi-open wooded/agricultural land with scattered trees and small waterways, sea level to ~1,500-1,700 m (rare outlier record to ~3,250 m in Bolivia)
Fun fact: True to its name, the Bat Falcon is one of the few raptors that regularly hunts bats on the wing, launching twilight sorties from a high perch and using rapid, agile flight to snatch them mid-air.
Range: Neotropics: Mexico through Central America and Trinidad to most of mainland South America (absent from Chile and Uruguay)
Diet: Aerial predator taking small birds (swifts, swallows, hummingbirds, parakeets, tanagers), bats, and large flying insects (butterflies, moths, dragonflies), with occasional small reptiles/amphibians and rodents; vertebrates make up 66-96% of biomass consumed, birds 32-85% of vertebrate prey.
Size: 0.27 m
Wingspan: 0.6 m

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