Editing Falcon (section)

{{Short description|Birds of prey in the genus Falco}}
{{Other uses|Falcon (disambiguation)|Falcons (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = [[Late Miocene]] to present
| image = Brown-Falcon,-Vic,-3.1.2008.jpg
| image_caption = [[Brown falcon]] (''Falco berigora'') in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], Australia
| taxon = Falco
| authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| type_species = ''[[Eurasian hobby|Falco subbuteo]]''<ref name=HM4>{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=35 |title= Falconidae |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-25}}</ref>
| type_species_authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = 38; see [[#Species|text]].
| synonyms = *''Aesalon''<!-- this might have been given twice: Kaup 1829 and Morris 1837 -->
*''Lithofalco''<!-- this might have been given twice: Reider & Hahn 1835 and Bonaparte (unjustified emendation: 1840) -->
*''Tinnunculus'' <small>Linnaeus, 1766</small>
*''Hierofalco'' <small>[[Frédéric Cuvier|Cuvier]], 1817</small>
*''Cerchneis'' <small>Boie, 1826</small>
*''Hypotriorchis'' <small>Boie, 1826</small>
*''Rhynchodon'' <small>Nitzsch, 1829</small>
*''Ieracidea'' <small>[[John Gould|Gould]], 1838</small>
*''Hieracidea'' <small>[[Hugh Edwin Strickland|Strickland]], 1841 [[Emendation (zoology)|(unjustified emendation]]<ref>{{Cite journal |journal=The Annals and Magazine of Natural History |series=Series 1 |volume=6 |date=February 1841 |issue=39 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc1.1001656368?urlappend=%3Bseq=450 |access-date=2024-02-08 |via=HathiTrust |language=en |title=XLVIII. Commentary on Mr. G R. Gray's 'Genera of Birds.' 8vo. London, 1840. |first=H.E. |last=Strickland |page=416|hdl=2027/nnc1.1001656368?urlappend=%3Bseq=450 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |website=WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species |title=Hieracidea Strickland, 1841 |url=https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1507473 |access-date=2024-02-08 |date=2021-04-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102124602/http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1507473 |archive-date=2022-01-02 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-03-06 |title=FALNOV.pdf |url=https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/sites/all/files/FALNOV.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208234459/https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/sites/all/files/FALNOV.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-08 |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=New Zealand Birds Online |publication-date=2020-09-03}} (Text extracted from {{Cite book |last1=Gill |first1=B.J. |last2=Bell |first2=B.D. |last3=Chambers |first3=G.K. |last4=Medway |first4=D.G. |last5=Palma |first5=R.L. |last6=Scofield |first6=R.P. |last7=Tennyson |first7=A.J.D. |last8=Worthy |first8=T.H. |date=2010 |title=Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica |edition=4th |publisher=Wellington, Te Papa Press and Ornithological Society of New Zealand |pages=174–176}})</ref></small>
*''Gennaia'' <small>[[Johann Jakob Kaup|Kaup]], 1847</small>
*''Jerafalco'' <small>[[Johann Jakob Kaup|Kaup]], 1850 (unjustified emendation)</small>
*''Harpe'' <small>Bonaparte, 1855 (''non'' Lacepède 1802<!-- possibly 1803 - print vs publication date? -->:<ref>{{Cite book |title=The birds of North and Middle America: a descriptive catalog of the higher groups, genera, species, and subspecies of birds known to occur in North America, ... |date=1950 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435029597671?urlappend=%3Bseq=633 |access-date=2024-02-09 |via=HathiTrust |language=en |page=615 |series=Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum Bulletin, no. 50, part 11 |first=Herbert |last=Friedmann |publisher=United States Government Printing Office|hdl=2027/osu.32435029597671?urlappend=%3Bseq=633 }}</ref> [[Homonym (biology)|preoccupied]])</small><!-- possibly also Harpe Merrem 1818, which would be preoccupied the same way as the name by Bonaparte.-->
*''Dissodectes'' <small>[[Philip Sclater|Sclater]], 1864</small>
*''Harpa'' <small>[[Richard Bowdler Sharpe|Sharpe]], 1874 (''non'' Pallas 1774: preoccupied)</small>
*''Gennadas'' <small>Heine & [[Anton Reichenow|Reichenow]], 1890<ref>{{Cite book |title=List of generic terms proposed for birds during the years 1890 to 1900, inclusive, to which are added names omitted by Waterhouse in his "Index generum avium," ... |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924090189725?urlappend=%3Bseq=25 |access-date=2024-02-09 |via=HathiTrust |language=en |page=685 |issue=1267 |volume=24 |series=Proceedings of the United States National Museum |publisher=Smithsonian Institution / Government Printing Office |location=Washington |date=1902 |first=Charles W. |last=Richmond| hdl=2027/coo.31924090189725?urlappend=%3Bseq=25 }}</ref> (unjustified emendation)</small>
*''Nesierax'' <small>[[Harry Church Oberholser|Oberholser]], 1899</small>
*''Nesihierax'' <small>Dubois, 1902 (unjustified emendation)</small>
*''Asturaetus'' <small>[[Charles Walter De Vis|De Vis]], 1906 (non ''Asturaetos'' Brehm 1855: preoccupied)</small>
*''Plioaetus'' <small>[[Charles Wallace Richmond|Richmond]], 1908</small>
*''Sushkinia'' <small>Tugarinov, 1935 (''non'' Martynov 1930: preoccupied)<!-- a prehistoric Protozygoptera/Archizygoptera "dragonfly" genus --> – see below</small>
}}

'''Falcons''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|ɒ|l|k|ən|,_|ˈ|f|ɔː|l|-|,_|ˈ|f|æ|l|-}}) are [[birds of prey]] in the [[genus]] '''''Falco''''', which includes about 40 [[species]]. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow [[bird wing|wing]]s are called [[hobby (bird)|hobbies]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXhFAQAAIAAJ&q=Some+small+falcons+with+long,+narrow+wings+are+called+%22hobbies%22|title=The raptor guide of Southern Africa|last1=Oberprieler|first1=Ulrich|last2=Cillié|first2=Burger|date=2009|publisher=Game Parks Publishing|isbn=9780620432238|language=en}}</ref> and some that [[hover (behaviour)#Wind hoverers|hover]] while hunting are called [[kestrel]]s.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J2z8CQAAQBAJ&q=falcons+which+hover+while+hunting+are+called+%22kestrels%22&pg=PP50|title=Falcons (Collins New Naturalist Library, Book 132)|last=Sale|first=Richard|date=28 July 2016|publisher=HarperCollins UK|isbn=9780007511433|language=en}}</ref> Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except [[Antarctica]], though closely related raptors did occur there in the [[Eocene]].<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s10336-015-1316-0|title=A stem falconid bird from the Lower Eocene of Antarctica and the early southern radiation of the falcons|journal=Journal of Ornithology|volume=157|issue=3|pages=885|year=2016|last1=Cenizo|first1=Marcos|last2=Noriega|first2=Jorge I.|last3=Reguero|first3=Marcelo A.|bibcode=2016JOrni.157..885C |s2cid=15517037|url=http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/107977|hdl=11336/54190|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Adult falcons have thin, tapered wings, which enable them to fly at high speed and change direction rapidly. Fledgling falcons, in their first year of flying, have longer [[flight feather]]s, which make their configuration more like that of a general-purpose bird such as a [[wikt:broadwing|broadwing]]. This makes flying easier while still learning the aerial skills required to be effective hunters like the adults.

The falcons are the largest genus in the Falconinae [[subfamily]] of [[Falconidae]], which also includes two other subfamilies comprising [[caracara (subfamily)|caracara]]s and a few other species of "falcons". All these birds kill prey with their [[beak]]s, using a [[beak#Tomia|tomial]] "tooth" on the side of their beaks—unlike the [[hawk]]s, [[eagle]]s and other larger birds of prey from the unrelated family [[Accipitridae]], who use [[Talon (anatomy)|talon]]s on their feet.

The largest falcon is the [[gyrfalcon]] at up to {{cvt|65|cm}} in length.  The smallest falcon species is the [[pygmy falcon]], which measures just {{cvt|20|cm}}.  As with hawks and [[owl]]s, falcons exhibit [[sexual dimorphism]], with the females typically larger than the males, thus allowing a wider range of prey species.<ref name=SPR>{{cite journal |title= The Evolution of Reversed Sexual Dimorphism in Hawks, Falcons and Owls: a comparative study |journal= Evolutionary Ecology |volume= 19 |issue= 5 |pages= 467–486 |doi= 10.1007/s10682-005-0293-9 |year = 2005|last1 = Krüger|first1 = Oliver|s2cid= 22181702 }}</ref>

As is the case with many birds of prey, falcons have exceptional powers of [[Visual perception|vision]]; the [[visual acuity]] of one species has been measured at 2.6 times that of [[human eye]]s.<ref name=j1/> They are fast fliers, with the [[Peregrine falcon]]s having been recorded diving at speeds of {{cvt|200|mph|km/h|order=flip}}, making them the fastest-moving creatures on Earth; the fastest recorded dive attained a vertical speed of {{cvt|390|km/h|mph}}.<ref>"The Speed of Animals" in ''The New Book of Knowledge''. Grolier Academic Reference. 2003. p. 278. {{ISBN|071720538X}}</ref>