White-rumped Falcon

The white-rumped falcon is a small, long-tailed Indochinese falcon with pointed wings and a rounded tail. Adults show a pale head and underparts, dark upperwings, a black tail barred white and a conspicuous white rump most obvious in flight. Yellow legs, feet, cere and eye-ring contrast with the grey or horn-coloured bill tip. Females are more richly marked than males. Its proportions are longer-winged and longer-tailed than the tiny Microhierax falconets (Wikipedia, general species account, drawing on published measurements).

Restricted to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, it inhabits dry deciduous forest, open woodland and dry savanna. Birds hunt from perches, dropping onto large insects and lizards on the ground or among branches; frogs, snakes and small birds are also recorded. Unlike many falconets, it does not normally chase insects in sustained aerial flight. A pair nests in a natural or woodpecker-made tree cavity, where the female lays two white eggs and performs daytime incubation (BirdForum species account; Wikipedia, general species account).