Lanner Falcon
Falco biarmicus
- Class
- Bird
- Rarity
- Rare
- Observations
- 1,578
- Most observed in
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Description
The lanner falcon (Falco biarmicus) is a medium-sized bird of prey that breeds in Africa, southeast Europe and just into Asia. It prefers open habitat and is mainly resident, but some birds disperse more widely after the breeding season. A large falcon, it preys on birds and bats. Most likely either the lanner or peregrine falcon was the sacred species of falcon to the ancient Egyptians, and some ancient Egyptian deities, like Ra and Horus, were often represented as a man with the head of a lanner falcon.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Lanner falcon”.