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Laughing Falcon

Herpetotheres cachinnan

Photo by pamsai
Published on Project Noah
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9.27, -83.81

Field Notes

Description:

The Laughing Falcon (Herpetotheres cachinnans), also called the Snake Hawk (erroneously, since it is not a hawk), is a medium-sized bird of prey in the falcon family (Falconidae), the only member of the genus Herpetotheres. This Neotropical species is a specialist snake-eater. Its common and scientific names both refer to its distinctive voice.

Habitat:

It occupies varied habitats, usually including at least scattered trees; it prefers humid regions to arid ones and tends to avoid closed forest.
They are most common in Central America and tropical South America.

Notes:

I've uploaded all the butterflies I saw in Costa Rica, now for the birds!

Reference Links:

Laughing Falcon, ADW: Herpetotheres cachinnans: INFORMATION

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (41)
Sachin Zaveri
Congratulations pamsai !! Thanks for sharing lovely series,
pamsai
Well Gilma, may be soon than I thought! My friend has asked me to house-sit down near Dominical for the last 2 weeks of October! May be a bit too much travelling, but I'll see. And i'm longing to get back home to India now... It's been a lot of travelling, a lot of countries, and a lot of spottings to upload! Age has some benefits!
Fyn Kynd
Amazing shots of such a beautiful species!
pamsai
thank you Gilma. Always nice to get a comment from you as you have seen and experienced the spottings in their natural habitat, hence I feel a camraderie with you...
pamsai
And Leonardo, the backlog of spottings I have from Central America, and now Japan will keep me posting for some time yet. Might not be finished before 2014! And then there is India again...
pamsai
thanks everyone. This SOTD came perfectly timed... I needed a pick-me-up, and this SOTD really did it. Someone up there is definitely looking out for me! All your kind comments and fav's made my day.
LuisStevens
Beautiful series Pam! Congrats on the SOTD.
MarcTe
beautiful animal! congrats on the SOTD
AntónioGinjaGinja
Awesome capture Pamsai,great series,congrats on the SOTD and thanks for sharing such a beautiful and interesting spotting page
Leonardo Castro
Beautiful shot, beautiful bird! Congrats on SOTD, pamsai. Keep posting, my friend!
RiekoS
Congratulations!! You have so many wonderful spottings!!!!
Josh Asel
Wow what a awesome raptor! Great spotting, well deserved :) congrats!
surekha
Congratulations on this lovely spotting, pamsai!!
suzmonk
As I write this message, I am listening to this beautiful bird laugh on YouTube ... it really does sound like laughing. Makes me smile. Congratulations on your SOTD!
pamsai
and thank you Mark, my friend...
pamsai
thanks Aaron, EnvUnlimited and Namitha...
pamsai
Wow, thank you Yasser!I am really touched; I wasn't expecting that at all. Must admit though I'm rather fond of this bird. It lived in the area I walked everyday looking for butterflies, and I don't know if it followed me, but somehow it was always around, "laughing"! On the day I took these photos, it definitely had it's eye on me and flew from tree to tree to keep up with me as I was walking. Eventually it landed on this dead tree and I had a clear view of it at last - in the sun, what's more! Thank you so much for choosing it as SOTD...
Namitha
Wonderful spotting Pamsai. Congratulations, on an amazing SOTD.
Mark Ridgway
Congratulations Pam. What a handsome little guy.
Aaron_G
Congrats! Super spotting!
Yasser
This is no laughing matter, your laughing falcon has been chosen as Spotting of the Day! :) Congratulations and thanks for sharing so many wonderful spottings from Costa Rica! Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153257976790603&set=a.10152383557885603.943728.10150120463815603&type=1 Twitter: http://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/380522224173600769
pamsai
wow Mark, how did you do that? Thankyou. Could you remove the other one also? Finger got used to going there with the butterflies and was a bit slow to change track! http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/37813412
pamsai
No, it's still there. I can't remove it! Anything you can do from your end? Talking to support now...
pamsai
Yes tmvdh, I can't seem to remove it! Rebooted Chrome... next step, the computer.
tmvdh
No problem, Pam - but it's still "here".
pamsai
woops... fingers still in butterfly mode. I'm slow, it takes me time to change! Sorry...
tmvdh
Hi Pam - sorry, but another one to remove from my mission "Insects of Costa Rica"...
pamsai
hehehe, thanks Mark. It followed me for quite a while, always laughing a little bit ahead of me. Maybe it was hoping I would disturb some snakes so it didn't have to work so hard for its dinner!
Mark Ridgway
Nice series Pam. I wonder who he's going to rob.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Birds of the World
Mission
Paso Pacifico Survey
Mission
Birds of Panama and Costa Rica
Mission
Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor
Mission
Life in Costa Rica
Photographed
PublishedSeptember 17, 2013

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