The Collared Falconet is the smallest bird of prey of the Indian subcontinent. Its body length is 18cm, smaller than a Red-vented Bulbul that falls prey to this tiny raptor many times. Jim’s Jungle Retreat Chief Naturalist Manoj Sharma recalls having seen it attacking a Black Francolin, a bird much bigger than itself. Main diet of the Collared Falconet is large insects including butterflies, moths, dragonflies, bees and wasps that are caught in mid-air. The bird sits on an exposed perch, usually a bare top branch of a tree and launches sallies to hawk for these insects. It is also known to catch lizards and small mammals.
The Collared Falconet is found along the Himalayan foothills in Uttarakhand through Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bangladesh, north-eastern hill tracts and into south-east Asia as far east as central and south Indo-China.
This Collared Falconet was recorded by Manoj Sharma on safari to Corbett Tiger Reserve, in a patch of Jungle close to Jim’s Jungle Retreat.
The Collared Falconet
