Animalia Life

Micrastur plumbeus
SUBFAMILY
Polyborinae
TAXONOMY
Micrastur plumbeus W. L. Sclater, 1918, Rнo Bogotб, Ecuador. Monotypic.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Sclater’s forest falcon; French: Carnifex plombй; German: Einbinden-Waldfalke; Spanish: Halcуn-montйs Plomizo.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
11.8–14.6 in (30–37 cm). Goshawk-like falcons with short wings, long tail, and long legs. A bare area of bright yellow skin surrounds the eyes and links the species with the caracaras. Upperparts slate gray. Underparts: gray throat grades to a white breast and belly barred with black. Tail distinctive: black tipped with white and a single white band midtail. Juvenile has fainter barring to underparts.
DISTRIBUTION
Restricted in
DISTRIBUTION
: from Cauca and Nariсo of southwest Colombia to Esmereldas, northwest Ecuador.
HABITAT
Wet forest interiors of the lowlands and foothills of the Pacific slope.
BEHAVIOR
Little known. Presumed to be sedentary.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Almost unknown. Land crab and lizard in one stomach. Hunts accipiter-like within forest, with short bursts of great speed and agility, and may also run over ground. May follow army-ant swarms, catching small animals that they flush, as do other Micrastur.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Unknown. Nests as solitary pair probably in tree holes, as do other Micrastur.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Vulnerable. Logging increasingly removes undisturbed closedcanopy forest on which the species depends. Infrastructure, particularly roads, has opened the region to agriculture, mining, and exploitation by international interests. Few pairs have ever been found and the species’ secretive nature makes it impossible to know the population size.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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