Falcon

Lore & Background

The genus Falco was introduced in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae, with the type species being the merlin (Falco columbarius). The name Falco is Late Latin meaning 'falcon,' from falx, falcis, meaning 'a sickle,' referring to the claws. In Middle English and Old French, faucon referred generically to several captive raptor species. The traditional term for a male falcon is tercel or tiercel, from Latin tertius (third), due to the belief that only one in three eggs hatched a male, or because a male is about one-third smaller than a female. A falcon chick reared for falconry, still in its downy stage, is called an eyas, from mistaken division of Old French un niais.

Reader's Guide

Falcons are significant as the largest genus in the Falconinae subfamily of Falconidae, which also includes caracaras and a few other species. They are not closely related to other birds of prey, being part of the class Australaves, with their nearest relatives being parrots and songbirds. The fossil record of falcons is not well distributed in time; the oldest falconid fossil is estimated to be 55 million years old, and falcons are probably of North American, African, or possibly Middle Eastern or European origin. They are roughly divisible into three or four groups: kestrels, hobbies and relatives, peregrine falcons and their relatives, and hierofalcons. These groups are an informal arrangement but likely contain several distinct clades. The technique of hunting with trained captive falcons is known as falconry.

Did You Know?

• Fledgling falcons have longer flight feathers that make their wing configuration more like a general-purpose bird, aiding learning.
• Falcons kill prey with their beaks using a tomial 'tooth,' unlike hawks and eagles that use talons.
• The genus name Falco derives from Late Latin meaning 'falcon,' from falx, falcis, meaning 'a sickle,' referring to the claws.