Golly, do I have a special treat for you today. Get ready to meet one of the most adorable little natural born killers you ever did see: the Pygmy Falcon. Look at his tiny face, you just want to smoosh him.
Let’s not lose our head now people; this is a serious bird, deserves to be taken seriously. Even if it is as cute as a button. The Pygmy Falcon lives up to its name. These little raptors are only about 20cm long and weigh about 60 grams. For some context they’re about half the size and weight of a normal Peregrine Falcon.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: where can I go to see one? Sad news: they’re African desert dwellers, with two separate populations centred in Ethiopia and Namibia. So probably not high on the list of birds you’re likely to bump into.
But for a Falcon they’re pretty typical: spend their days stalking small things to eat like tiny rodents and lizards.
They do have one strange quirk. They tend to nest in abandoned weaver nests. I mean, why go to the trouble of building a nest yourself. But then they prominently smear poop on the nest entrance, and no-one is really sure why. The leading theory is that it may act as a deterrent to snakes. And to be fair, a faecal smeared hole would probably deter me from going in there. So that’s a little bit gross, but you know what, no-one is perfect … which is what I used to believe until I saw this bird, 10/10.
19/05/24
Photo credit:
1: “African Pygmy Falcon” by Becky Matsubara
2: “African Pygmy Falcon” by Just chaos
3: “File:African Pygmy Falcon Female.jpg” by Sumeet Moghe
4: “african pygmy falcon, african pygmy-falcon, falcão-pigmeu-de-dorso-cinzento, fauconnet d’afrique, halconcito africano, pygmy falcon” by scaup
Bird of the Week 