The Red-legged Falconet belongs to the vertebrates, class Aves, order Falconiformes, family Falconidae, and genus Falconet. It inhabits open forests with dense vegetation at altitudes of around 2000 meters. Only two subspecies have been discovered worldwide, and in China, it is found only in Yunnan Province, and is extremely rare.
What do you imagine birds of prey to be like? A golden eagle that can snatch a blue sheep? Or a bearded vulture that can fly over Mount Everest? The red-legged falconet is an exception among birds of prey. They usually don't exceed 19 centimeters in length and weigh more than 50 grams. Only slightly larger than a common sparrow, they can be considered the "hobbit" of the bird of prey family.
Besides its small size, it also has a gentle appearance. First, its beak curves downwards much more gently than that of most birds of prey, resembling more of a sparrow's beak when viewed from the front. Second, unlike most birds of prey which have a cool brown or greyish-brown plumage, the Red-legged Falconet's colors are quite vibrant and varied. Its forehead is white, with a broad white eyebrow stripe above the eye. Its upper body, wings, and tail feathers are black, shimmering with a bluish-green metallic sheen in sunlight. Its throat is dark brown, as are its breast, abdomen, flanks, undertail coverts, and leg feathers.
In nature, chicks and adults usually look different, but the Red-legged Falconet is an exception. Adults and chicks are almost identical, the only difference being that chicks have brown markings on their forehead, eyebrow stripes, face, and neck feathers, a more whitish chest, and pale brown edges on their upper body and wing coverts. They are practically the "ageless beauties" of the bird world, possessing an uncanny ability to preserve their youth.
Perhaps due to its small size, the Red-legged Falcon's main diet consists of arthropods such as insects, and it occasionally catches some very small birds, snakes and other vertebrates.
The most outrageous thing is that you've never seen more than a dozen birds of prey peacefully gathered together, but a photographer once captured a full twelve red-legged falcons quietly perched on a single tree. It seems that the red-legged falcon truly deserves the title of "oddball" among birds of prey.
