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Identifi cation Habit: The Red-necked Falcon is an arboreal and Features: Cultural Aspects: aerial crepuscular bird. Lives and hunts in pairs. In ancient India this falcon was Flight is fast and straight. It is capable of hovering. esteemed by falconers as it hunts in  1st and 4th primary pairs, is easily trained and is obedient. Distributation: India upto Himalayan foothills and subequal. 2nd and 3rd It took birds as large as partridges. terrai; Nepal, Pakistan and BanglaDesh. South of primary subequal. In ancient Egypt, Horus, was the Sahara in Africa.  Crown and cheek stripe falcon-headed god of sun, war and chestnut. protection and was associated with Habitat: Keeps to plain country with deciduous the Pharoahs. vegetation, hilly terrain, agricultural cropland with  Bill plumbeous, dark groves, semiarid open scrub country and villages. tipped. Avoids forests.  Iris brown. Related Falcons: Behaviour: Resident falcon with seasonal  Cere, orbital skin, legs and Common Kestrel, Shaheen and Laggar Falcon are residents . The movements that are not studied. Swiftly chases feet yellow. Peregrine, Eurasian Hobby and Merlin are migrants. Red-legged crows, kites and other raptors that venture near its Falcon is extra-limital and is not recorded from India. nest. Shrill call is uttered during such frantic chase. Utters shrill and piercing screams ki ki ki ki, with diff erent calls, grates and trills for other occasions. Female feeds the male during the breeding season.

A pair at sunrise roosting on the topmost perches of a tall tree  Claws black.

 Tail broad with black sub-terminal band.

 Thinly barred abdomen MerlinM Common Kestrel Laggar Falcon Amur Falcon and fl anks.

 Sickle-shaped aerodynamic wings. Male begging for food and female with prey

Breeding Phenology:

PeregrineP Falcon Red-legged Falcon Shaheen Falcon

Red-necked Falcon keeps the crows at bay by intermittent attacks, when it has taken a crow’s nest by evicting the rightful owners. Etymology: Falco Food: A clutch of 4 eggs. 4 days old chicks. 2 weeks old. 3 weeks old. 4 weeks old. Falco chicquera : Late Latin , a falcon (L. falx, a sickle), wings are sickle shaped. French Small birds like sparrow, bulbul, warblers, larks, Le Chicquera (from Hindi Shikara or Shikar, a sparrow-larks, bushchat, doves, shrikes, crakes, hunt), given by Levaillant in 1799 (1753-1824). wagtails, kingfi sher, ring plover, pipits, starlings, Pronounced as Shikara. Levaillant disapproved cuckoos, swallows, martins, pipistrellus bats, etc. of Linnean system of classifi cation and gave Takes small bats on the wing at dusk when they French names to his discoveries. emerge from their diurnal haunts. Habitually lift Sanskrit name – Vegi- One fast in fl ight or speedy. poultry. Likes to drink water and rarely runs on ground to chase insects mice and lizards. Food is often brought before dawn and after dusk. Chicken - in this case dressed, is a common food item. Rarely kleptoparasitic. Five to six weeks old chicks are practising wing fl apping. Parent feeding entrails to branchers. Threats: Amazing Facts Falcon’s habit of taking poultry attracts wrath of humans and hence this falcon is poisoned or shot. Habitat loss, use of pesticides and tree The falcons are some of the fastest fl ying birds in the world. They swipe carnal prey like wild birds from mid air, when felling negetively aff ect falcon’s survival. Electrocution due to adaptive pairs attack in collaboration. The peculiar shape of the wings makes them ideal living fl ight machines. response of nesting on electric pylons is another threat.

Nest on a mobile phone transmission tower Tree felling for fi rewood is detrimental

Attacking like lightning to lift prey from the ground A young brancher is boldly defending an attacking Indian Grey Hornbill

Nest site: Nest: Brood: In a fork of eucalyptus, mango, tamarind, Platform or cup made of twigs, sticks, wires Usually 2 chicks from fi cus (banyan or peepul), Borassus Palm, lined with grass and rootlets. Falcons take a clutch of 3 - 4 eggs. A poultry chick in talons of the falcon Proximity to electric wires is hazardous Raintree or Christmas tree in or near old or occupied nests of crows by evicting Nestlings take care in Maharashtra, India. 4 years for eld research human occupation. On man made the rightful owners. This causes frequent of one another and structures like electric transmission towers encounters with crows. Also occupies old are not mutually FACT FILE: Red-necked Falcon (Red-headed Falcon) and pylons; 5 - 10 m up. nests of Black Kites. aggressive. Falco chicquera Daudin, 1800. Type Locality – Bengal. Races – F. c. chicquera in Asia and F.c.rufi collis in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Wonderful Life of the Nestlings: Turmati (Hindi); Turumati sasana (Marathi); Turumthi (Gujarathi); Chatwa (Sind); Lal siri turmati (Punjabi); Jelgadda (Telugu); Jelkat (Yerukali).

 Editor: Satish Pande.  Length – 310 - 360 mm.  Egg colour: Pale,  Photographs: Satish Pande, Reuven red to brown  Wing – 190 - 207 mm. (M); Yosef, Niranjan Sant. blotched.  Design: Kiran Velhankar, 220 - 232 mm. (F) Media Next Infoprocessors Pvt. Ltd.  Incubation – Both  Weight – 139 -178 g (M);  Copyright and Published by: 190 - 305 g (F). sexes. 33 - 34 days. Ela Foundation, C-9, Bhosale Park, Observing the surroundings The attack pose Stretching the wings Preening Sahakarnagar-2, Pune 411009. (2013).  Life Span –  Sexual Maturity – www.elafoundation.org. Two years. About 14 years.  References: *Ali Salim and S. Dillon Ripley (1969) Handbook of Birds of India and  Breeding Season – Pakistan, Oxford University Press, Bombay; January to June. vol 3: 1-325. *Pande, Satish; Tambe, Saleel; Francis, C. F. and Sant, Niranjan (2003).  Clutch – 3 - 4 eggs Red-necked Falcon Birds of Western Ghats, Kokan and Malabar once a year (Including birds of Goa) Oxford University Press and Bombay Natural History Society,  Egg size – 42.4 x 31.1 mm. India. Pp-1-378. *Satish Pande. (2010) Latin  Order: Falconiiformes  Family: Falconidae Long oval. Names of Indian Birds Explained. Published www.elafoundation.org by . Ela Foundation, Oxford University  Status: Resident Press and Bombay Natural History Society. Conservation *Naoroji, R. (2009). Through  Recommended citation: Pande, Satish Education &

Flexing leg and toes Scratching the head Yawning; Altruism - At noon, off ering shade to the sibling under its belly Deshpande did fi and Prashant Pawar Kumar M.N.Mahajan, Amit Pawashe, Dr. Satish Pande, Dr. Sponsored by: (2013). Red-necked Falcon. Ela File 6. pp Research 1- 6. Published by Ela Foundation, Pune, ELA FOUNDATION India. An OENSL conservation initiative.