| Pygmy Falcon | |
|---|---|
| Male in Buffalo Springs National Park, Kenya | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Falconiformes |
| Family: | Falconidae |
| Genus: | Polihierax |
| Species: | P. semitorquatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Polihierax semitorquatus (Smith, 1836) |
|
| Pink: Vagrant in Rwanda | |
The Pygmy Falcon, or African Pygmy Falcon (Polihierax semitorquatus) is a falcon that lives in eastern and southern Africa, the smallest raptor of the continent. As a small falcon, only 19 to 20 cm long, it preys on insects, small reptiles and even small mammals.
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Adult Pygmy Falcons are white below and on the face, grey above, the female having a chestnut back. There are white "eye spots" on the nape. Juveniles have a brown back, duller than adult females, and a rufous wash on the breast. The flight feathers of the wings are spotted black and white (more black above, more white below); the tail is barred black and white.[1][2]
The flight is low and undulating. In size, pattern, and the habit of perching upright on an exposed branch or treetop, this species resembles some shrikes.[1][2]
The call is "a high-pitched kikiKIK, repeated" (Kenya)[1] or "a 'chip-chip' and a 'kik-kik-kik-kik'" (southern Africa).[2]
The Pygmy Falcon inhabits dry bush. The subspecies P. s. castanonotus occurs from Sudan to Somalia and south to Uganda and Tanzania; P. s. semitorquatus occurs from Angola to northern South Africa.[2][3] This range is estimated to have an area of 2.7 million km2, and the total population is estimated to be between 100,000 and 1 million birds.[3]
In Kenya, Pygmy Falcons nest in White-headed Buffalo-weaver nests, and the ranges of the two birds coincide.[1] In southern Africa, they are found around Red-billed Buffalo-weaver nests but predominantly nest in the vacant rooms of Sociable Weaver nests,[2] which are large and multichambered—even if the Sociable Weavers still have an active colony in the nest. Despite being bird-eaters and bigger than Sociable Weavers, the Pygmy Falcons largely leave the latter alone, though they do occasionally catch and eat nestlings and even adults.[4]
Pygmy Falcons occasionally engage in polyandrous relationships, where there are more than two adults living together and tending nestlings. There are four potential reasons for this behavior: defense, co-operative polyandry, delayed dispersal of offspring, and thermoregulation (warmth). Corroboration for the last is that in winter African Pygmy-falcons nest further inside the nest of Sociable Weavers, where there is better insulation.[5]