Black-thighed Falconet eating grasshopper

Posted by BESG on 4 September 08, Thursday
Contributed by Jimmy Tan

Jimmy Tan a.k.a. skylark was in Temburong, Brunei one August 2008 morning when he documented a Black-thighed Falconet (Microbierax fringillarius) feasting on a grasshopper.

“These little raptors are usually perched high but do come down low to feed. I saw this particular one catch what looked like a grasshopper and go to this perch to feed. It then proceeded to devour the grasshopper, head first. Then it went on to the legs before the thorax and abdomen. It finished off with each of the wing-roots and leaving the rest of the wings to fall to the ground. Looks like every substantial part of the insect was eaten, leaving very little to waste.”

This falconet hunts mainly arthropods: flying termites, moths, beetles, mantids, carpenter bees, butterflies, dragonflies, cicadas and grasshoppers. Occasionally, it takes small birds like munias and sunbirds.

This post is a cooperative effort between www.naturepixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

Image by Jimmy Tan.

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Categories: Feeding-invertebrates, Raptors

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