Prairie Falcon
Falco mexicanus
- Least concern
- Card rarity: Common
- Birds
The prairie falcon is a medium-sized falcon found in Western North America. A separate species from the peregrine falcon, with which it shares some visual similarities, the prairie falcon is, essentially, an arid-climate divergence of earlier peregrine falcon lineage. It is thus able to thrive on a more meager, opportunistic diet compared to that of the peregrine, and is generally lighter in weight than a peregrine of similar wingspan. Having evolved in harsher and desert environments, often with low prey density, the prairie falcon has developed into an aggressive and opportunistic hunter of a wide range of both mammalian and avian prey, as well as occasional reptiles. It will regularly take prey from the size of sparrows or finches to birds approximately its own weight, and occasionally much larger.
Classification
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Falconiformes
- Family
- Falconidae
- Genus
- Falco