Herpetotheres cachinnans (Linnaeus, 1758)

Common Name and Length

Herpetotheres cachinnans, commonly called the laughing falcon, measures 45 to 56 cm (18 to 22 in) in length, with a wingspan of 79 to 94 cm (31 to 37 in). Females are slightly larger than males and noticeably heavier: nominate subspecies males weigh 408 to 686 g (0.9 to 1.5 lb), while nominate females weigh 590 to 800 g (1.3 to 1.8 lb).

Subspecies Size Comparison

The subspecies H. c. fulvescens is slightly smaller than the nominate subspecies. Male and female laughing falcons have identical plumage.

Adult Nominate Underparts

Adult nominate laughing falcons have creamy white underparts, which vary slightly between individual birds, across seasons, and with feather wear. They have a broad dusky black facial "mask" that extends around the neck as a narrow collar.

Crown and Crest Features

Their crown has dusky black feather shafts that appear as narrow streaks, and the back of the crown holds a small bushy crest. Their back and wings are dusky black.

Tail Markings

Their tail is also dusky black, with four or five white bands, though some individuals have white spots instead of bands. The uppertail coverts range from pale buff to cream.

Underside of Wing

The underside of the wing is pale buff, sometimes with some dusky spotting on the underwing coverts; flight feathers have cinnamon rufous bases and darker bars.

Bare Parts

The iris is dark brown or hazel, the bill is black with a pale yellow to orange-yellow cere, and the feet are typically dull yellow.

Immature Plumage

Immature laughing falcons differ very little from adults; they have lighter edges on their back feathers that create a scalloped appearance. Some immature individuals have cinnamon buff or dusky streaks and spots on their underparts.

Flight Appearance

When in flight, the laughing falcon displays a rufous patch at the base of the wing underside, and has a body shape more similar to Accipiter hawks than most other falcons, with short, rounded wings and a long tail.

H. c. fulvescens Plumage

Subspecies H. c. fulvescens shares the same plumage pattern as the nominate, but is overall darker and more richly colored, with a cinnamon buff underside rather than creamy white.

Nominate Subspecies Range

The nominate subspecies of the laughing falcon is the much more widespread of the two. It ranges from southern Sonora and San Luis Potosi south through Central America, extending from northeastern Panama into northern Colombia.

South American Nominate Range

In South America, its range continues east through Venezuela, the Guianas, and northern Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean; to the south, it occurs east of the Andes through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay into northeastern Argentina, and across most of Brazil.

H. c. fulvescens Range

Subspecies H. c. fulvescens ranges from Panama's Darién Province south through western Colombia and western Ecuador into northwestern Peru, as far as the Department of Lambayeque.

Habitat Preferences

The laughing falcon lives in a broad variety of semi-open landscapes with trees, and avoids the interior of dense forests. It can be found in primary evergreen and deciduous forests, gallery forests, secondary forests, palm groves, savannas, and other open areas that have scattered trees or patches of forest.

Elevation Range General

It is generally a lowland bird, found from sea level upward. In most of Central America it reaches up to 1,500 m (4,900 feet), though it occurs locally up to 1,850 m (6,100 feet) in Costa Rica.

South American Elevation Range

In Colombia it reaches 2,400 m (7,900 feet), but usually occurs at much lower elevations. It occurs mostly below 800 m (2,600 feet) in Ecuador, 1,000 m (3,300 feet) in Peru, and 900 m (3,000 feet) in Bolivia.