Falconidae Falcons and Caracaras

From the sleek lightning-fast falcons to the more harrier-like caracaras, this family seems at first sight an unnatural group. Nonetheless, these birds are united anatomically, and their DNA makes clear that these diurnal raptors are not closely related to the other hawks and eagles. Falcons specialize on a wide array of animal prey, from grasshoppers and voles to bats and flying birds, whereas caracaras range from generalist predation on a variety of terrestrial animals to narrow specialization on wasp nests. Virtually all the core falcons have a tomial “tooth,” which is actually a notch in the cutting edge of the upper bill, and many of the forest falcons have bare facial skin, as do almost all caracaras.