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Australian Wildlife

  Black Falcon (Falco subniger)





Black Falcon | Falco subniger photo
Black falcon (Falco subniger) as seen West from Goolgowi, New South Wales, Australia

Image by Stuart Harris - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







BLACK FALCON FACTS

Description
The Black Falcon is black or dark brown falcon with paler throat. Some birds have white speckles on the breast and under the wings. It has broad wings and fairly long tail with curved tip. the eye is dark brown and beak has a black tip. Female birds are larger than males. The species is usually found where there is water in arid and semi arid zones.

Size
50 cm

Habitat
open woodland, farmland, grassland with stands of trees. It does not inhabit dense forest.

Food
small mammals, birds, reptiles, insects

Breeding
nests in old nest of a crow or other bird of prey. The female lays two to four spotted and blotched pale eggs.

Range
The Black Falcon is found across mainland Australia, but is not often seen in south western parts of Western Australia, and is not found in Tasmania. It is more common in interior drier areas than coastal areas.

distribution map showing range of Falco subniger in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Falconiformes
Family:Falconidae
Genus:Falco
Species:subniger
Common Name:Black Falcon

Relatives in same Genus
  Brown Falcon (F. berigora)
  Nankeen Kestrel (F. cenchroides)
  Australian Hobby (F. longipennis)
  Peregrine Falcon (F. peregrinus)