Prairie Falcons are likened to be arid-environment counterparts of peregrine falcons although they’re lighter and needs less food than the peregrines. They are sandy-brown on their crowns, napes, backs and wings.
They have a thin, dark mustache stripe on their faces, white cheeks, and eyebrows. Their underparts are also white with neat brown spotting. Their tails are lighter-colored than their wings and when in flight, they have visible “armpit” feathers that are unique to them.
Females are similar to males except that they’re larger. Juveniles are also the same as the adults but they are darker in color and have heavy brown streaking on their underparts. Their ceres (base of the bill) and legs are grayish.
- Falco mexicanus
- Length: 15 – 19 in (38 – 48 cm)
- Weight: 19.2 oz (544 g)
- Wingspan: 40 – 42 in (102 – 107 cm)
Range
Prairie Falcons are widespread in western US states and can also be found in southwestern Canada and northern Mexico.
Habitat And Diet
You can find Prairie Falcons in open areas like prairies, dry plains, and barren mountains, with cliffs and buffs for nesting. They also frequent grasslands, agricultural fields, alpine tundra, and high desert.
A Prairie Falcon’s diet consists mostly of small mammals and small to medium-sized birds. When looking for prey, Prairie Falcons are opportunistic hunters and will take what is available. But most of the time, it prefers to hunt and stalk prey smaller than themselves so that they’re easier to kill and eat or kill and take home to the nest.
Prairie Falcons can easily kill ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks, sparrows, doves, quail, pigeons, mallards, and even lizards and snakes. When nesting, they will hunt prey that they can carry home for their young and their females. They are also known to store food in separate sites in cases where hunting is not successful.
Prairie Falcon Call:
Nests
Nests of Prairie Falcons are often found on ledges on a cliff, halfway up the cliff face to prevent mammalian predators from reaching them. They will also make use of both natural and artificial crevices as nests. They may also nest in trees, caves, and on top of buildings.
Prairie Falcons’ nests are just scrapes or depressions which hold the eggs. The female lays around two to six eggs that she alone incubates roughly for about forty days. During this time, the male hunts and feeds her. It takes around sixty-five days for the young to be self-sufficient.
