FALCONIFORMES Falcons
Symbols
➤ Indicates a species (cf. subspecies)
SEARCH: To search for a word or phrase, use Ctrl-F to create a search box.
Order FALCONIFORMES: Falcons
We follow Holdaway (1994a), Holdaway et al. (2001), and Christidis & Boles (2008) in separating falcons from accipitrids at the ordinal level.
Family FALCONIDAE Leach: Falcons
Falconidae Leach, 1819: Eleventh room. In Synopsis Contents British Museum 15th edition, London: 63 – Type genus Falco Linnaeus, 1758.
Genus Falco Linnaeus
Falco Linnaeus, 1758: Syst. Nat., 10th edition 1: 88 – Type species (by subsequent designation) “Falco peregrinus Linnaeus” = Falco peregrinus Tunstall.
Cerchneis Boie, 1826: Isis von Oken, Heft 10: col. 970 – Type species (by monotypy) Falco rupicolus Daudin.
Hypotriorchis Boie, 1826: Isis von Oken, Heft 10: col. 976 – Type species (by monotypy) Falco subbuteo Linnaeus.
Rhynchodon Nitzch, 1829: Obs. Avium Arter. Carot. Comm.: 20 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Falco peregrinus Tunstall.
Ieracidea Gould, 1838: Synop. Birds Australia 3: pl. 43 – Type species (by monotypy) Falco berigora Vigors & Horsfield.
Hieracidea Strickland, 1841: Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., London 6: 416. Unjustified emendation.
Harpe Bonaparte, 1855: Compt. Rend. Séa. Acad. Sci., Paris 41: 652 – Type species (by original designation) Falco novaeseelandiae Gmelin. Junior homonym of Harpe La Cépède, 1802.
Harpa Sharpe, 1874: Cat. Birds Brit. Mus 1: 372. Unjustified emendation of Harpe Bonaparte and junior homonym of Harpa Lamarck, 1799.
Nesierax Oberholser, 1899: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad.: 203 – Type species (by original designation) Falco novaeseelandiae Gmelin.
Notofalco Mathews, 1913: Austral Avian Rec. 2: 56 – Type species (by original designation) Falco subniger G.R. Gray.
Megacerchneis Roberts, 1922: Ann. Transv. Museum 8: 210 – Type species (by original designation) Falco rupicoloides A. Smith.
Palifalco Mathews, 1946: Working List Aust. Birds: 51 – Type species (by original designation) Falco hypoleucos Gould.
➤ Falco cenchroides Vigors & Horsfield
Nankeen Kestrel
Two subspecies: Falco cenchroides cenchroides (Australia, including Tasmania) and F. c. baru (New Guinea) (Marchant & Higgins 1993).
Falco cenchroides cenchroides Vigors & Horsfield
Nankeen Kestrel
Falco cenchroides Vigors & Horsfield, 1827: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 15: 183 – New South Wales, Australia.
Cerchneis immaculata Brehm, 1845: Isis von Oken, Heft 5: col. 357 – New South Wales, Australia.
Cerchneis unicolor Milligan, 1904: Emu 6: 2 – Yalgoo, Western Australia.
Cerchneis cenchroides (Vigors & Horsfield); Buller 1906, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 2: 60.
Cerchneis novae-zealandiae; A. Hamilton 1909, Hand-list Birds New Zealand: 13. Not Falco novaeseelandiae (Gmelin, 1788).
Cerchneis cenchroides milligani Mathews, 1912: Novit. Zool. 18(3): 253 – Parry’s Creek, Western Australia.
Cerchneis cenchroides cenchroides (Vigors & Horsfield); Mathews & Iredale, 1913 Ibis 1 (10th series) 420.
Falco cenchroides Vigors & Horsfield; J. Moore 1981, Notornis 28: 53.
Falco cenchroides cenchroides Vigors & Horsfield; Checklist Committee 1990, Checklist Birds N.Z.: 111.
Throughout Australia (including Tasmania), migrating to Indonesia in winter; breeding on Lord Howe Island (since 1944) and Norfolk Island (since c. 1971) (J. Moore 1985a; McAllan et al. 2004). An infrequent straggler to mainland New Zealand (Oliver 1955; Marchant & Higgins 1993), Campbell Island, May 1942 (Miskelly, Crossland et al. 2019), and Antipodes Island, two birds, Feb. 2013 (Miskelly, Crossland et al. 2021). The numerous records since 1889 (e.g. Guest 1991; Marchant & Higgins 1993; Medway 2000a) include a small irruption in 1969 (sightings in nine localities in North and South Islands; Edgar & Grant 1969).
➤ Falco novaeseelandiae Gmelin
New Zealand Falcon | Kārearea
Falco novae-Seelandiae Gmelin, 1788: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(1): 268. Based on the “New-Zealand Falcon” of Latham 1781, Gen. Synop. Birds 1: 57 – Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough.
Falco brunnea Gould, 1838: Synop. Birds Australia 3: 42 – New Zealand. Junior primary homonym of Falco brunneus Bechstein, 1805 = Falco tinnunculus Linnaeus.
Falco brunneus Gould, 1838: Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1837 (5): 139 – New Zealand. Junior primary homonym of Falco brunneus Bechstein, 1805 = Falco tinnunculus Linnaeus.
Falco australis Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841: Ann. Sci. Nat., Paris, 2nd series 16: 312 – Otago. Junior primary homonym of Falco australis Gmelin, 1788 = Phalcoboenus australis (Gmelin).
Falco harpe “Forst. Icon. ined.”; G.R. Gray 1843, in E. Dieffenbach, Travels in N.Z. 2: 186.
Hypotriorchis novae zealandiae (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1844, List Gen. Birds: 20. Unjustified emendation.
Falco harpe J.R. Forster, 1844: in M.H.C. Lichtenstein, Descrip. Animalium: 68 – Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough.
Falco ferox Peale, 1848: U.S. Expl. Exped. 67, 308 – Bay of Islands, Northland.
Harpe novae-zealandiae (Gmelin); Bonaparte 1855, Compt. Rend. Séa. Acad. Sci., Paris 41: 652. Unjustified emendation.
Teracidea [sic] nova-zealandiae (Gmelin); Cassin 1858, U.S. Expl. Exped. Ornithology 8: 89. Unjustified emendation.
Hieracidea novae zealandiae (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 214. Unjustified emendation.
Hieracidea brunnea (Gould); G.R. Gray 1862, Ibis 4: 215.
Ieracidea novae zealandiae (Gmelin); G.R. Gray 1869, Hand-list Birds 1: 22. Unjustified emendation.
Hieracidea novae-zealandiae (Gmelin); Hutton 1870, Ibis 6 (new series): 392. Unjustified emendation.
Falco Novae Zelandiae Gmelin; Anon. 1870, Cat. Colonial Mus.: 72. Unjustified emendation.
Harpa australis (Hombron & Jacquinot); Sharpe, 1874: Cat. Birds Brit. Mus 1: 373.
Harpa novae zealandiae (Gmelin); Sharpe 1875, in Richardson & J.E. Gray (Eds), Zool. Voy. ‘Erebus’ & ‘Terror’, Birds – 1 (Appendix): 21. Unjustified emendation.
Harpa novae-zealandiae (Gmelin); Hutton 1879, Ibis 3 (4th series): 456. Unjustified emendation.
Hieracidea ferox (Peale); Travers 1883, Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 15: 186.
Nesierax novae-zealandiae Gmelin; Oberholser, 1899: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad.: 203. Unjustified emendation.
Nesierax australis (Hombron & Jacquinot); Oberholser, 1899: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad.: 203.
Nesierax (Harpa) novae-zealandiae (Gmelin); A. Hamilton 1909, Hand-list Birds New Zealand: 13. Unjustified emendation.
Nesierax australis Peale [sic]; A. Hamilton 1909, Hand-list Birds New Zealand: 13.
Nesierax novaeseelandiae (Gmelin); Mathews & Iredale 1913, Ibis 1 (10th series): 420.
Nesierax pottsi Mathews & Iredale, 1913: Ibis 1 (10th series): 420 – Paroha Bay, Bay of Islands, Northland.
Nesierax novae-seelandiae (Gmelin); Mathews 1930, Emu 29: 282.
Falco novaeseelandiae Gmelin; Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 36.
New Zealand, including Great Barrier Island / Aotea and the Auckland Islands / Maukahuka (Marchant & Higgins 1993). Mainly in hilly and mountain districts; rare in the northern North Island (Fox 1978). Recently extinct on Stewart Island / Rakiura (G. Harper 2009). Fox (1988) alluded to three distinct forms of New Zealand falcons (eastern, southern, and bush) but these have not been taxonomically described. Late Pleistocene–Holocene and midden records from widely distributed sites in North, South, and Chatham Islands (Worthy & Holdaway 2002). Vagrant to Campbell Island and Macquarie Island (Buller 1887–88; Bailey & Sorensen 1962).
Trewick & Olley (2016) proposed recognising North Island and South Island subspecies of the New Zealand falcon based primarily on a size difference between islands. However, this conclusion was not supported by their genetic study, which did not include the holotype of Falco novaeseelandiae Gmelin, and did not adequately test the proposal of Fox (1988) to recognise three forms, one of which occurs in both the North Island and South Island (Marchant & Higgins 1993). Therefore the Checklist Committee continues to recognise no subspecies pending a more comprehensive study.