Barbary Falcon
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| Barbary Falcon | ||||||||||||||
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| Falco pelegrinoides Temminck, 1829 |
The Barbary Falcon (Falco pelegrinoides), is a large bird of prey. This falcon breeds in the Canary Islands and on the coasts of north Africa. It is mainly resident. This species is often considered to be a subspecies of the Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus.
It is a bird of semi-desert and dry open hills. It typically lays its eggs in cliff ledge nests.
Barbary Falcon is similar to Peregrine Falcon, but smaller at 33-39cm length with a wingspan of 76-98cm. The female is larger than the male. It resembles its relative in general structure.
Adults have paler grey-blue upperparts than Peregrine, and often have a buff wash to the barred underparts, whereas the larger species has a white background colour. The nape is rufous, but this is difficult to see.
Sexes are similar, apart from size, but the young birds have brown upperparts and streaked underparts. The streaking is lighter than in juvenile Peregrine.
The call is a high pitched rek-rek-rek.
External links
- Bird Biographies (http://www.naturalencounters.com/abby1b.html)