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Bird name:

Prairie Falcon

Falco mexicanusOrder: FALCONIFORMES Family: Falcons (Falconidae)
Codes: Common Name: PRFA Scientific Name: FALMEX ITIS Taxonomic No.: 175603
Least Concern
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Prairie Falcon
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Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips

Jelly Jar Jelly Feeder
The orange "blossum" replaces the lid of a jelly jar.
Attract Orioles with Fruit
Sliced orange secures easily to the center of the ring. Low cost.
Attract with Nectar
Hex shaped nectar feeds several Orioles. Nectar kept in fridge.
Charm and Attraction
Lovely copper umbrella keeps fruit cool and looks great.

Overview

Prairie Falcon: Medium falcon with brown upperparts, dark-spotted pale underparts, dark brown moustache stripe. Dark underwing-bars visible in flight. Feeds on small birds and mammals, and large insects. Swift flight with rapid wing beats. Sometimes alternates several rapid wing beats with a glide.


Range and Habitat

Prairie Falcon: Breeds from British Columbia and the Canadian prairie provinces south to Mexico and northern Texas. Spends winters in breeding range and sparingly farther east. Preferred habitats include barren mountains, dry plains, and prairies.

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Topo Map: Hawk-like Body


Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kree-kree-kree"

Interesting Facts

 The Prairie Falcon was first described in 1850 by Hermann Schlegel, the German ornithologist.

 It often shares its nesting cliff with Common Ravens, Golden Eagles, and Red-tailed Hawks.

 They sometimes bathe in river shallows, but dust-bathing is probably more common than water-bathing, because of the general scarcity of standing water in its habitat.

 A group of falcons has many collective nouns, including a "bazaar", "eyrie", "ringing up", "stooping up", and "tower" of falcons.


Bird Term Glossary



Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

Yury Lisyak

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Range Map for Prairie Falcon

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Family Falcon (Falconidae)_blue
Species Falco mexicanus
Length15 - 19 Inches
Wingspan41 Inches

Prairie Falcon

Prairie Falcon: Medium falcon with brown upperparts, dark-spotted pale underparts, dark brown moustache stripe. Dark underwing-bars visible in flight. Feeds on small birds and mammals, and large insects. Swift flight with rapid wing beats. Sometimes alternates several rapid wing beats with a glide.

● Song: "kree-kree-kree"

● Foraging & Feeding: Prairie Falcon: Diet consists mainly of birds, which it pursues on the wing but usually captures on or near the ground. Also feeds on small mammals such as prairie dogs and young rabbits.

● Breeding & nesting: Prairie Falcon: Four to five white eggs, heavily marked with brown and purple, are laid in a scrape of loose dirt on a cliff ledge, cave, or crevice, or sometimes in an abandoned nest of another species. Incubation ranges from 29 to 31 days and is carried out mainly by the female.

● Similar species: Prairie Falcon: Merlin is much smaller, has a less distinct moustache stripe, more strongly barred tail, and lacks distinctive black mark on underwings. Peregrine Falcon lacks pale stripe behind eye, has thicker moustache stripe, wings that reach tail tip at rest, and lacks black underwing patches.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Prairie Falcon Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Prairie Falcon: Breeds from British Columbia and the Canadian prairie provinces south to Mexico and northern Texas. Spends winters in breeding range and sparingly farther east. Preferred habitats include barren mountains, dry plains, and prairies.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationUncommon to fairly common
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight19.2 Ounces
Hawk-like BodyX
UnderpartsX
Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.
UpperpartsX
Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.
4 and 6 letter alpha codesX

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

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ITIS CodesX

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990�s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html. You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.

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Parts of a Standing birdX
Head Feathers and MarkingsX
Parts of a Flying birdX