Lanner Falcon

The Lanner Falcon is a native of all of Africa and the southern parts of Italy, Sicily, Greece and Asia Minor.
It is essentially a bird of mountainous terrain except in Africa, where it can also be found in savannahs, plains and deserts.

The Lanner Falcon is a fast-flying bird and is well designed for catching birds up to the size of a Guinea Fowl, and bats, especially the larger fruit bats.
When prey of this kind is scarce, ground living mammals and lizards are taken. It will also gorge on locusts and flying termites when they are swarming.

The Lanner Falcon has a shrill, piercing, almost screaming voice, similar in content to that of the Peregerine Falcon, but somewhat higher pitched.

Much, but not all of the Lanner Falcon's prey is taken in the air, when the falcon descends to its prey and binds to it with a smack which can be heard some way off. It then carries it off.
Occasionally it will strike its prey in the air and allow it to drop to the ground, collecting it there, but this is less frequent behaviour.
When defending its nesting territory, it will often stoop with tremendous force at an animal it cannot hope to kill, which seems to be, nonetheless, an effective deterrent.
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