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Field Identification of Sooty Falcon William S

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Field Identification of Sooty Falcon William S Field identification of Sooty Falcon William S. Clark, Ron Frumkin and Hadoram Shirihai he Sooty Falcon Falco concobr is a summer resident in desert areas of Tthe Arabian peninsula, northeastern Africa, and Israel north to the Dead Sea. Recent studies (Walter 1979a; Frumkin & Pinshow 1983) have led to a better understanding of this falcon's biology and provided some useful pointers for field identification. In particular, plumage differences between the adult sexes have previously been poorly described. Here, we discuss the plumages of Sooty Falcon (based on both field and museum experience) and highlight field marks that will serve to distinguish it from similar species. Frumkin & Clark (1988) question the existence of dark- morph Sooty Falcons. Description SIZE AND SHAPE Between Hobby F. subbuteo parts uniform sooty-grey. This plumage and Eleonora's Falcon F. eleonorae in size, darker than adult's, and with remnants of with relatively longer wings than other juvenile's dark ear-covert mark and mous­ falcons and fairly long wedge-tipped tail. tachial stripe, but body and coverts are Females usually larger than males. moulted in winter quarters. Moreover, juve­ JUVENILE Head with dusky 'hood', extending nile remiges usually retained (although pale below eye as dark moustachial stripe and tips are lost) into second winter. Females similar dark mark on hind ear-coverts, may be sexually mature in this plumage. separating buffy throat, buffy ear-coverts patch and buffy extension up sides of nape. ADULT MALE Blue-grey head, body, and wing-coverts; primaries black, tail dark grey. Upperparts brown-grey. Feathers of under- Cere, orbital rings and legs orange-yellow parts have variably sized, dark brown-grey (figs. 1 & 2, plate 16; Walter 1979a, plate 8b). centres and buffy or yellow-brown fringes; Some males show pale throat, and faint those on upper breast usually have larger black moustachial stripes. dark centres. Individuals with relatively large dark feather centres appear dusky, ADULT FEMALE Plumage similar to that of with pale streaks on underside of body; male, but with less contrast between coverts those with smaller dark centres appear and primaries. Rump and uppertail-coverts, much paler with dark streaks (plates 17-19; however, more blue-grey. Dark grey rectri- Walter 1979a, plate 10b). Cere and orbital ces somewhat darker than tail-coverts and rings bluish; legs pale yellow. body. Cere, orbital rings and legs lemon- FIRST-WINTER/FIRST-SUMMER Upperparts yellow. Many females show pale throat, but dark sooty-grey, with brownish cast; under- not faint moustachial stripes of male. [Brit. BMs 83: 47-54, February 1990] 47 48 Identification of Sooty Falcon Fig. 1. Adult male Sooty Falcon Fako concolor. Note dark wing tips and tail tips, pale underwing and projecting central tail feathers (Tuvia Kurtz/IRIC) Fig, 2. Adult male Sooty Falcon Fako concolor. Note dark primaries and tail tip (Tuvia Kurtz/ IRIC) Field identification In flight, Sooty Falcon shows a wedge-tipped tail, with protruding central feathers. When perched, it often shows a distinctive crossing of the wingtips above the tail, as does Eleonora's Falcon. The adult male is easily distinguished by his light blue-grey body and coverts, contrasting strongly with the dark grey tail and black primaries (but with only the black primary tips on the underwing; figs 1 & 2, plates 12 & 13). The underwings are usually somewhat paler than the body, and the tail appears grey-based owing to the paler tail-coverts; in good light, a darker band to the tip of the tail is noticeable. When perched, the black primaries appear much darker than the blue-grey wing-coverts. The legs, cere and orbital rings are orange-yellow. The adult female is a darker, more sooty grey, but the black primaries nevertheless contrast with the sooty-grey upperwing-coverts, and the Identification of Sooty Falcon 49 12. Adult male Sooty Falcon Falco concolor, Israel, October 1981 (Ron Frumkin). Note underwings paler than body, dark wingtips, and projecting central tail feathers black primary tips are noticeable on the underwing. The rump and uppertail-coverts are more blue-grey. The tail is like that of the adult male. The legs, cere and orbital rings are lemon-yellow. First-summer individuals appear somewhat darker than adult females, with less contrast between back and upperwing-coverts and tips of the primaries and tail. In good light, faint moustachial stripes (as on juvenile), and faint whitish barring on the underside of the primaries and tail can be seen (plate 14). From above, juveniles are similar to adults, with dark primaries contrasting with paler grey-brown upperwing-coverts and back (plate 15). Fig. 3. Juvenile Sooty Falcon Falco concolor. Note two-toned underwing pattern, with dark primary tips and trailing edge; and dark tail with narrow pale bands and projecting central feathers (Tuvia Kurtz/IRIC) 50 Identification of Sooty Falcon 13. Adult male Sooty Falcon Falco concolor, Israel, October 1981 (Ron Frumkin). Note that primaries and tip of tail are darkest 14. First-summer Sooty Falcon Falco concolor, Israel, October 1981 (Ron Frumkin). Note dark general colour, and white bands in spread tail From below, the 'dirty' yellow-brown body and underwing-coverts and the pale bases to the remiges appear paler than, and contrast with, the dark tips of the remiges (fig. 3; plate 18). The throat is unstreaked, and, in flight, a dark band is often noticeable across the heavily streaked upper breast. The dark brown uppertail shows a pale terminal band; the basal section of the undertail shows faint narrow light bands, with a fairly wide, darker subterminal band near the tip and a pale terminal band. The central pair of tail feathers is unhanded. The cere and orbital rings are bluish, and the legs are pale yellow. Perched juveniles usually appear dusky below, with pale streaking and a noticeable hood, and dark moustachial stripe and similar mark on hind ear-coverts (plate 19; cf. Cade 1982, plate XXIII, page 137). Similar species Juvenile Red-footed Falcon F. vespertinus is somewhat smaller than — but appears almost identical to—-juvenile Sooty in flight from below, except when seen well. Red-footeds have the dark on the underwing restricted to the primary tips, whereas the dark on the primaries of juvenile Sooty is more extensive. Both species have somewhat two-toned patterns on the [The inclusion of plates 15-19 in colour has been subsidised by a donation from ZEISS West Germany] 15. Juvenile Sooty Falcon Falco concolor, Israel, October 1986 (H. Shirihai). Note unhanded uppertail and contrast on right wing 16. Adult male Sooty Falcon Falco concolor, Israel, October 1986 (H. Shirihai). Note orange cere and legs Identification of Sooty Falcon 5 3 upperwing, but the back and wing-coverts of juvenile Red-footed are sandy-brown with noticeable pale feather fringes. Juvenile Sooties are grey-brown on the back and wing-coverts. Juvenile Red-footeds have wider, more noticeable (especially from above), pale tail bands, extending to the tip. Sooty's tail-banding is narrower and less well defined, is not apparent on the uppertail (unless the tail is spread), and does not extend to the tip; thus a darker subterminal band can be seen on the undertail. On perched juvenile Red-footeds, the forehead is white, the crown is several shades paler than the dark ear-coverts patch, and the pale area extends right across the nape to form a collar. Adult male Red-footed Falcon is also grey, but has rufous belly, undertail-coverts and thighs; and silvery primaries that are paler (not darker) than the wing-coverts. Table 1. Sizes (in mm) of Sooty Falcon Falco concolor, Hobby F. subbuteo and Eleonora's Falcon F. eleonorae Sources of data: *Cramp & Simmons (1980); sample size not given. fClark (unpublished), Eilat, Israel; 5 cfO*, 6 $$, 2 sex unknown (see Clark et al. 1986 for details). **Walter (1979b); 19 C?Cf, 22 $$ Dimensions Sooty Falcon Hobby Eleonora's Falcon Body length 330-360* 300-360* 360-400* 290-3201 370-455** Wingspan 850-1,100* 820-920* 1,100-1,300* 740-830t Eleonora's Falcon is similar in shape to, but somewhat larger than, Sooty Falcon (table 1), with the relatively longer tail (see Stresemann 1955) lacking the projecting central feathers. Dark-morph adults are darker than Sooty Falcons, and have primaries that are at most slightly darker than the upperwing-coverts, and underwing-coverts that are somewhat darker than the pale bases of the flight feathers, a feature visible only in good light (see Porter et al. 1981, figs. 64 & 65). Light-morph adults and juveniles are somewhat similar to juvenile Sooties, but have browner upperparts (juvenile), reddish-brown underparts (especially adult), and lack projecting central tail feathers. Their dark underwing-coverts contrast with paler bases to the flight feathers. In addition, Eleonora's Falcon usually lacks the dark ear-coverts mark. Hobby is similar in shape to, but is somewhat smaller than, Sooty (table 1), with a relatively short tail, which can, however, show projecting central feathers. The face pattern and streaked underparts of Hobby are similar to those of juvenile Sooty Falcon, but neither the underwing nor the upperwing are so two-toned as those of Sooty; and the streaking on the underparts is thicker and better defined. Grey Kestrel F. ardosiaceus, of Africa, is mostly grey, but has barred primaries, which do not contrast strongly with the wing-coverts; the wingtips of perched Grey Kestrels do not reach the tail tip. 17. Left (top), juvenile Sooty Falcon Falco concolor, Israel, October 1986 (H. Shirihai). Note 'face' pattern and streaked underparts 18. Left (centre), juvenile Sooty Falcon Falco concolor, Israel, October 1986 (H. Shirihai).
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