The barred forest falcon is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae which includes the falcons, caracaras, and their relatives. It occurs throughout most of tropical and subtropical Latin America, except the arid Pacific coast in South America, northern and western Mexico, and the Antilles.
Similar species: Falcons And Caracaras
By Thibaud Aronson
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Uploaded Aug 3, 2022. Captured Jun 15, 2022 08:53 in GWC6+X9 La Victoria, Peru.
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The Micrastur forest falcons are some of the most elusive raptors of the American continent, specialized bird predators that haunt the forest interior. Them being so hard to see is all the more remarkable because they can be quite vocal (though they mostly sing pre-dawn and at dusk).
I'd seen one, a different species, in Mexico years ago, and never since. Now, when I was roaming Madre de Dios with my friend Jesus, one of the best birders I've ever met, (he's seen all 5 Micrastur species that occur in Peru), he surprised me by telling me that one species, the Lined forest-falcon, is actually quite easy to see, because it responds to playback, which was something I'd never heard before!
We got an opportunity to test that out the first time we visited the Estancia Bello Horizonte, a week before this photo was taken. Sure enough, two Lined forest-falcons were calling in the early dawn light, one of them maybe fifty meters away from the lodge. Jesus told me "Go on, try a bit of playback". We were completely exposed, on the lawn right next to the pool, and I was admittedly skeptical. But to my amazement, the bird immediately responded and flew into a lone tree in the middle of the lawn, 10 meters from us! My hands were shaking so badly that I fumbled the focus on what would have been a pretty shoddy photo anyway, as the bird was mostly hidden by the foliage. Still, as I watched it vanish into the forest again, I was delighted to have seen it!
Towards the end of my stay in Madre de Dios, I decided to spend 2 nights in Bello, to try my luck again with the forest-falcon and other cool birds that are known from the area. The first morning, unfortunately, no forest-falcons were calling so I went into the forest to look for other stuff. Then, on my way back for lunch, something quite large suddenly flushed right next to the trail, and perched a few meters inside the forest. Almost instantly, I knew what I had, and my heartrate went into triple digits. Sure enough, I peeked through the curtain of denser vegetation that lined the path and soon found this beautiful fellow perched on a completely exposed branch! He allowed me to get a bit closer and I even got a video of him calling! He was remarkably relaxed and when I left after 10 minutes (and 200 photos), he hadn't moved from his spot!
Now, attentive readers might have noticed that Jesus had told me about the Lined forest-falcon, and this is not what is ID'ed on this photo. And indeed, once I got back to the lodge and looked through the photos, a strange doubt started creeping into my mind. I sent the photos and video to Jesus, who forwarded them to another top ornithologist, who confirmed the verdict: I'd stumbled upon a second species of forest-falcon, 100 meters away from where we'd seen the first one!
But that meant I still had to photograph the Lined forest-falcon... (to be continued) Posted 3 years ago
Congrats on the find, happy that you now have your "snakebird" moment. Posted 3 years ago
Yep, they're remarkable birds, really more similar to sparrowhawks than to any other falcon. Posted 3 years ago