The New Zealand falcon is a bird of prey. They are known as the the bravest bird in New Zealand . THEY ARE A TRUE WARBIRD.
PHYSICAL FEATURES
The New Zealand (NZ) Falcon is a very lean looking bird of prey. They have brown pointed wings and they have a streaked cream breast. They also have a hooked beak and above the beak is golden yellow which is also the colour of their eye ring. It uses its golden talons (claws) for grabbing its prey.
Habitat
They live in the South and the North Islands, however they are rare on Stewart Island. They mostly live in beech forests, tussocklands, roughly grazed hill country and pine forests. However in the Chatham Islands, NZ Falcons are found in bushy areas around mountains.
Feeding Behaviour
They hunt live prey. They can catch prey larger than themselves, such as black shags. The New Zealand Falcon flies really fast and attacks with a strike or grasp to grab the prey with their talons. Once they have their prey they brutally kill it with a quick powerful bite to the neck. They eat a range of animals, including mammals such as rabbits and hares. They also will eat lizards but NZ falcons mainly eat other birds. Juvenile falcons will eat insects.
Reproduction
Falcons do not make nests but make a scrape on the ground, under a rocky outcrop or in an epiphyte (a plant that grows on another plant) in an emergent forest tree into which it lays its eggs. It lays two to four eggs which take about 33 days to hatch. The juveniles are fed by both parents, the male does most of the hunting with the female guarding close to the nest. Fledgling occurs between 31 and 45 days after hatching.
Social Behaviour
NZ Falcons are really aggressive especially when guarding their nest. They can dig their talons into you ( as my dad found out ) and are one of the bravest birds because they can hunt prey bigger than them.
Threats
The main animal threats to falcon include: cats, stoats, ferrets and hedgehogs. Also they can be electrocuted on power poles containing uninsulated transformer boxes. Can you believe that people still shoot falcons, they seem to do this because people that have chickens and racing pigeons think that the falcon are a hassle because sometimes they eat their chickens and racing pigeons.
Sadly falcons are losing their habitat due to logging and pastures being converted. Finally, some falcons even crash into the turbine blades on wind farms, which can kill them.
Conclusion
The New Zealand falcon is a bird of prey. They are known as the the bravest bird in New Zealand . THEY ARE A TRUE
WARBIRD.
BY DAN
