Records of Orange-breasted Falcons in Urban and Suburban Areas of Northwestern Argentina

Abstract

The Orange-breasted Falcon (Falco deiroleucus) is amedium-sized falcon that inhabits South American evergreenand semi-deciduous tropical and subtropical rainforests.The species ranges from southern Mexico tonorthern Argentina (Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001)and is usually considered rare across its range (Che´bez2009, Baker et al. 2012). This falcon typically nests incavities and crevices in cliffs, although there are a fewrecords of Orange-breasted Falcons nesting in largeemergent trees and several records of a pair nesting on ahuman-made structure, a stone ledge in the crest of aMayan temple in Tikal National Park, Guatemala (Baker etal. 2012). This falcon usually hunts its prey, mostly medium sizedto large birds (particularly doves, parakeets, andswifts), bats, and large insects, from high perches in the canopy or in forest clearings, or along forest borders(Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001, Baker et al. 2012).Individuals also may forage in forest fragments or inmodified landscapes with cultivated fields, orchards andpastures, although breeding territories are usually in areasdominated by mature forest (Baker et al. 2012).