Laggar Falcon (Falco jugger)

Laggar Falcon

[order] FALCONIFORMES | [family] Falconidae | [latin] Falco jugger | [authority] Gray, 1834 | [UK] Laggar Falcon | [FR] Faucon laggar | [DE] Laggarfalke | [ES] Halcon Yaggar | [NL] Laggarvalk

Subspecies

Genus Species subspecies Region Range
Falco jugger OR Pakistan to Burma, India

Genus

Members of the genus falco are mostly medium-sized falcons, but vary from the large peregrine falcon to the small American kestrel. The wings are long and pointed and used almost continuously during flight. The bill is short, powerful, and with a distinct ‘tooth’ on each side. Most falcons of this group have a black teardrop-shaped ‘mustache’ mark on each side of the head. Falcons are fastflying birds of open country and are famous for attaining high speeds as they dive from high altitudes to knock birds out of the air.

Physical charateristics

In the field, the Lugger Falcon appears smaller than the Saker Falcon and has plain central tail feathers, a dark rufous and black crown and a noticeable moustachial streak. It can be distinguished from the Peregrine Falcon by nearly white plumage below, spotted, but not barred black.


wingspan min.: 95 cm wingspan max.: 115 cm
size min.: 38 cm size max.: 46 cm
incubation min.: 29 days incubation max.: 31 days
fledging min.: 0 days fledging max.: 0 days
broods: 1   eggs min.: 2  
      eggs max.: 5  

Range

Oriental Region : Pakistan to Burma, India. Falco jugger occurs in the Indian Subcontinent from extreme south-east Iran, south-east Afghanistan, and Pakistan, through India (from the Himalayan foothills south to northern Kerala and northern Tamil Nadu), Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and north-west Myanmar.

Habitat

It is mostly found from sea-level to 1,000 m in dry open woodland and open country with scattered trees

Reproduction

They nest in abandoned nests of crows and the tree holes. The clutch consists of three to five eggs. Incubation takes from 29 to 31 days and done by both parents. The nuptial display is spectacular with mutual soaring, rpadi pursuits and diving action.

Feeding habits

Its main food is birds, lizards, small gound mammals and insects. Birds, up to the size of a pigeon or a crow, predominate, and these are taken on the wing or occasionally from the ground, as are insects. Lizards and mammals are taken on the ground, although there are reports of the bird stooping at a wall, turning at the last minute and snatching a lizard from the surface as it did so.

Video Laggar Falcon

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PgaMhRGdHE

copyright: Ram Gopal Soni


Conservation

Trends in this species’s population are poorly documented, however it is thought to be undergoing a moderately rapid population reduction, both owing to pesicide use and incidental capture by trappers targetting Saker Falcon Falco cherrug.
Declines have been noted in Pakistan and north-west India, perhaps from spreading cultivation and pesticides, and the species is scarce in Nepal and Bangladesh. In Pakistan at least, the species is threatened by trapping for Saker Falcons Falco cherrug (Laggar Falcons themselves are apparently not prized for falconry). The main threat, given the presumed susceptibility of the species to pesticides, is the intensification of pesticide use in the region (e.g. a seven-fold increase in pesticide use in Pakistan between 1981 and 1992).
Laggar Falcon status Near Threatened

Migration

Pairs reside in one locality and do not migrate

Distribution map

Laggar Falcon distribution range map

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