Laughing Falcon

The Laughing Falcon is a fairly common bird in many different habitat types at Refugio da Ilha. While its mask and extremely bulky appearance (someone, I don't remember who, once told me that it looked like a Yellow-headed Caracara on steroids) are distinctive, the Laughing Falcon can be most easily found by listening for the call that it was named for. The "laugh" of a Laughing Falcon consists of several low and somewhat nasal "HAH" notes that are usually spaced several seconds a part; almost as if the falcon was slowly and sarcastically laughing at a bad joke that it heard a birder telling.