Aplomado Falcon (Falco femoralis) lives in open grasslands across South America. It feeds on small mammals birds. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the Aplomado Falcon
- Aplomado falcons weigh just 208-305 g in males and 270-460 g in females, making them half the weight of a similarly sized peregrine despite a comparable 30-40 cm length and 90 cm wingspan. Their feather-light bodies also mean prey items often weigh only one-fifth to one-half of their own mass, highlighting a delicate balance between size and diet that shapes their role as agile aerial hunters.
- Pairs of aplomado falcons hunt together 66 % of the time and achieve a 44 % success rate, more than double the 19 % success of solo hunters. Females perform about 74 % of the incubation time and have been recorded tackling prey bigger than themselves, such as cattle egrets.
- Aplomado falcons occupy home ranges from 2.6 km² to 9.0 km² in Mexico, but juveniles can roam averaging 170 km² before settling, showing a dramatic expansion of territory during dispersal. This wide early range increases the chance of finding suitable nesting sites and abundant prey, crucial for a species whose nests are often taken over from other raptors and placed on sticks 2.3-11.3 m high.
- Genetic analysis in 2015 revealed that the aplomado falcon is more closely related to New Zealand's falcon than to the visually similar bat or orange-breasted falcons. This surprising lineage ties a South American grassland bird to a distant island species, underscoring how convergent plumage can mask deep evolutionary splits within the falcon family.
- From 1985 to 2012, over 1,800 aplomado falcons were captive-raised and released across Texas and New Mexico, reviving a species that vanished from the U.S. by the 1950s. These reintroductions have led to stable breeding pairs on the Texas coast and occasional fledging successes, proving that targeted releases can restore a once-extinct regional population.
Sources
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At a glance
RangeSouth America
HabitatOpen grasslands
DietSmall mammals birds
About the Aplomado Falcon
In the scorching savannas and open grasslands, the Aplomado Falcon reigns as a sleek and agile hunter, its slate-grey wings beating with rapid precision as it pursues its prey with relentless determination. With eyes fixed intently on the ground below, this raptor slices through the air with effortless ease, its slender tail streaming behind like a banner as it navigates the thermal currents with mastery. As it soars, the Aplomado Falcon embodies the very essence of wild freedom, a true marvel of evolutionary adaptation in the harsh yet beautiful landscape it calls home.
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