Among the birds of prey, Tianshan Tonglao, the red-legged little falcon has good looks.

The red-legged falcon belongs to the vertebrates, class Birds, order Falconiformes, family Falconidae, and genus Falcon. It inhabits open forest areas with dense vegetation at an altitude of more than 2,000 meters. Only two subspecies have been found in the world. They are only distributed in Yunnan in China and are extremely rare.

What do you think birds of prey are like? A golden eagle that can catch a blue sheep? Or a bearded vulture that can fly over Mount Everest? The red-legged falcon is an exception among birds of prey. They usually do not exceed 19 centimeters in length and weigh no more than 50 grams. Only slightly larger than the common sparrow, it can be said to be the "Hobbit" of the raptor family.

In addition to being short in stature, it is also gentle-looking. First of all, the downward arc of its beak is much slower than that of ordinary raptors, and it is closer to a sparrow's beak when viewed from the front. Secondly, unlike most raptors, which are cold brown or gray-brown in color, the red-legged falcon is symmetrically beautiful and colorful. Its forehead is white, and there is a broad white eyebrow line on its eyes. Its upper body, wings and tail feathers are black, with a blue-green metallic luster in the sun. The throat is dark brown, and the chest, abdomen, flanks, and lower tail coverts and leg coverts are all dark brown.

In nature, there are generally differences in the appearance of chicks and adult birds, but the red-legged falcon is an exception. Its adults and fledglings are almost the same. The only difference is that the fledgling's forehead, eyebrow lines, face and neck quills are more or less brown, the chest is more white, and the upper body and wing coverts have light brown feathers. . She is simply the "Tianshan Child's Grandma" in the bird world, with a knack for looking good.

Perhaps because of its small size, the red-legged falcon's staple food is actually insects and other arthropods, and occasionally it also captures some particularly small birds, snakes and other vertebrates.

The most exaggerated thing is, have you ever seen a dozen raptors gathering together calmly, but a photographer once photographed a dozen red-legged falcons sitting quietly in a tree. It seems that the "weird" raptor is none other than the red-legged falcon.

animal tags： Falconiformes Falconidae Falcon