Bat Falcon
- Family
- Falconidae
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Least Concern 4
Where and when to see the Bat Falcon
DraftOn the Yucatán Peninsula
It lives along forest edges and in clearings with tall trees, and also in towns and at archaeological sites. Look for it perched on a dead branch or the top of a building: it isn’t shy and often gives good views.
Where it’s reported most
- Chichén ItzáTinum, Yucatán
- CalakmulCalakmul, Campeche
- Becán and XpujilCalakmul, Campeche
- XocénValladolid, Yucatán
When
All year · most reports Nov–Mar
Most reports from November to March.
Reports relative to effort
- January: 100%
- February: 83%
- March: 77%
- April: 39%
- May: 54%
- June: 84%
- July: 72%
- August: 67%
- September: 69%
- October: 65%
- November: 98%
- December: 97%
Data: eBird and other datasets via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), 2015–2026 · Base map: Natural Earth
Watches from tall dead trees at the forest edge and over rivers, then catches bats, swifts and large insects in fast flight, especially at dawn and dusk.
- Identification
- A small, dark falcon: blue-black above, with a white or buff throat, a black breast finely barred white, and a rusty belly and “trousers”. Females are much bigger than males.
- Voice
- A fast, shrill “kee-kee-kee”, given mostly in the breeding season and near the nest.
What the photo doesn’t show
DraftWatchman of the ruins
It likes tall perches with a view. eBird notes it at several Maya ruins in Mexico and northern Central America, and it has nested on pre-Columbian ruins as well as in tree holes. 1,2
More birds than bats
Despite its name, bats are a small part of what it eats, usually under 14% by weight. Most of its food is small birds caught in the air, along with many large insects. 1,2
A twilight hunter
It hunts mostly around dawn and dusk, often well after sunset, launching from a high bare branch. Seen in flight against the sky, it can pass for a White-collared Swift. 1,2,3
He hunts, she sits
The female is far heavier than the male, about 177–242 g against 108–150 g. She does most or all of the incubating, while he brings her food and later most of the food for the chicks. 2
Sources
- eBird: Bat Falcon (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia: Bat falcon (opens in a new tab)
- Birds of the World (Cornell Lab): Bat Falcon (opens in a new tab)
- IUCN Red List category, via GBIF: Falco rufigularis (opens in a new tab)
Map and months: 2,740 records from 2015–2026 from eBird, iNaturalist, and others, via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), in 0.1° squares (about 10 km). eBird: doi.org/10.15468/aomfnb.
Months: the species’ records ÷ all bird records that month, scaled to the busiest month. It allows for birding effort; it is not the chance of seeing it. A blank square: few or no reports, not necessarily absent.
Tell us where, or ask how to find one.
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