Forest falcon
Genus of birds
title: "Forest falcon" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["polyborinae", "falcons", "birds-of-prey", "micrastur", "birds-of-prey-of-south-america", "taxa-named-by-george-robert-gray"] description: "Genus of birds" topic_path: "general/polyborinae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_falcon" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Genus of birds ::
| name = Forest falcons | image = Micrastur semitorquatus (cropped).jpg | image_caption = Collared forest falcon (Micrastur semitorquatus) | taxon = Micrastur | authority = G.R. Gray, 1841 | type_species = Falco brachypterus | type_species_authority = Temminck, 1822 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = 7 currently recognised: See text
Forest falcons are members of the genus Micrastur, part of the family Falconidae. They are endemic to the Americas, found from Mexico in the north, south through Central America and large parts of South America, and as far south as northern Argentina. Most are restricted to humid tropical and subtropical forests, but the two most widespread species, the collared and the barred forest falcon, also range into drier and more open habitats.
Forest falcons, like most Accipiter-type hawks (but unlike other falcons), are adapted for agility in thick cover rather than outright speed in the open air. They have short wings, long tails, and extraordinarily acute hearing. While generally visually inconspicuous, their songs are commonly heard.
Their diet is a mixture of birds, mammals, and reptiles. Hunting is often performed in goshawk fashion: the bird takes up a perch in an inconspicuous position and waits for a prey species to pass, then strikes with a short, rapid pursuit. Forest falcons are inventive, flexible hunters, and at least some species (such as the relatively long-legged collared forest falcon) are also capable of catching terrestrial prey on foot.
In 2002, a new species was described, found in the Atlantic forest and the southeastern Amazon of Brazil (and later also confirmed for adjacent parts of Bolivia). It has been named Micrastur mintoni, the cryptic forest falcon, as it is phenotypically highly similar to M. gilvicollis.
Species
::data[format=table]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[File:Halcón montés chico (Micrastur ruficollis) (vertical crop).jpg | 120px]] | Micrastur ruficollis | Barred forest falcon |
| Micrastur plumbeus | Plumbeous forest falcon | Chocó in south-western Colombia and north-western Ecuador. | |
| [[File:Lined Forest Falcon.jpg | 120px]] | Micrastur gilvicollis | Lined forest falcon |
| [[File:Micrastur mintoni - Cryptic Forest Falcon; Parauapebas, Pará, Brazil.jpg | 120px]] | Micrastur mintoni | Cryptic forest falcon |
| [[File:Micrastur Mirandollei (cropped).jpg | 120px]] | Micrastur mirandollei | Slaty-backed forest falcon |
| [[File:Micrastur semitorquatus - Flickr - Dick Culbert.jpg | 120px]] | Micrastur semitorquatus | Collared forest falcon |
| Micrastur buckleyi | Buckley's forest falcon | Peru, Ecuador and far southern Colombia. | |
| :: |
Taxonomy and systematics
Micrastur was defined by George Robert Gray in the second edition of his List of the Genera of Birds in 1841. The type species was Temminck's Falco brachypterus, with Illiger's Falco concentricus as a synonym.
Composition of species comprising the genus has varied, with differing opinions on whether particular populations are species or subspecies, and whether collected specimens were different life stages or plumage variants of the same species.
Sclater and Salvin commented in 1869 that "some of the members of the genus Micrastur are at present in a state of great confusion". They listed seven species, of which four are currently recognised and three are considered subspecies.
In 1873, Robert Ridgway noted the similarity of Micrastur to the laughing falcon Herpetotheres. He wrote that "Eight species are given in Gray’s Hand List…, but of this number only five are tenable."
References
References
- . ["Psittacidae"](https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=67). *The Trust for Avian Systematics*.
- Bierregaard, R. O. (1994) Species accounts - Genus Micrastur. In: Del Hojo J, Elliott A, Sargatal J (eds), ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'', Volume 2, pp 252–254. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions
- Whittaker, A. (2002). A new species of forest-falcon (Falconidae: ''Micrastur'') from south eastern Amazonia and the rain forests of Brazil. ''Wilson Bulletin, 114'', 421–445.
- (1841). "A list of the genera of birds : with their synonyma and an indication of the typical species of each genus".
- (2011). "Micrastur Gray, 1841".
- "Notes on the Species of the Genus Micrastur.". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.
- ''M. semitorquatus, M. mirandollei, M. ruficollis, M. gilvicollis''.
- ''M. zonothorax, M. leucauchen, M. guerilla''.
- Those five were listed as: ''M. semitorquatus'', ''M. mirandollei'', ''M. ruficollis'', ''M. leucauchen'', and ''M. concentricus''. He excluded ''M. castanilius'' as a species of ''Nisus'' (now ''[[Accipiter castanilius]]''). He considered ''M. guerilla'' and ''M. zonothorax'' to be different forms of the same species, and that ''M. xanthothorax'' and ''M. gilvicollis'' were synonyms of ''M. ruficollis''.
- (1873). "Revision of the falconine genera, Micrastur, Geranospiza and Rupornis, and the strigine genus, Glaucidium.". Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History.
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