Laughing Falcon

The Laughing Falcon is a distinctive, large-headed falcon best known for two things: its striking appearance and its remarkably loud vocalizations. It has a creamy-buff head and underparts set off by a bold black facial mask that wraps around the head like a bandit's disguise, contrasting brown upperparts, and a barred tail. Locally known by names such as "guaco" that echo its call, this species is a snake specialist, one of the few raptors adapted to regularly hunt venomous snakes.

Key field marks

• Large, rounded head with a bold black facial mask encircling the head.
• Creamy-buff underparts and head.
• Brown upperparts; barred tail.
• Often perches upright and conspicuously on exposed branches or wires.

Similar species

No other Neotropical falcon shows this combination of a creamy head with a complete black facial mask; its distinctive shape, coloring, and loud calls make it readily identifiable.

Laughing Falcons favor forest edge, savanna woodland, gallery forest, and semi-open country with scattered trees, avoiding both dense unbroken forest and completely open habitat. The species ranges from Mexico through Central America and across much of South America to northern Argentina. It is a non-migratory resident, generally found at lower to middle elevations.

Voice

One of the most recognizable calls of Neotropical woodlands: a loud, far-carrying series of notes often rendered as "wah-co, wah-co" or a laughing cackle, frequently given in duet by paired birds, giving rise to local names like "guaco."

Feeding

This species is a snake specialist, capturing snakes — including venomous pit vipers — by pouncing from a perch and dispatching them with bites to the head before swallowing them, often headfirst; it also takes lizards and, less often, other small vertebrates.

Nesting and breeding

Laughing Falcons do not build their own nest, instead using natural tree cavities, broken-off snags, or old nests of other birds. A single egg is typically laid, and both parents help provision the chick, feeding it largely on snakes brought back to the nest site.