Shaheen falcon
| Shaheen falcon | |
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Vulnerable
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Falconiformes |
| Family: | Falconidae |
| Genus: | Falco |
| Species: | F. peregrinus |
| Subspecies: | F. p. peregrinator |
| Trinomial name | |
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Falco peregrinus peregrinator Sundevall, 1837 |
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The shaheen falcon (Falco peregrinus peregrinator) is a non-migratory subspecies of the peregrine falcon found mainly in the Indian subcontinent. It has also been described as a migratory subspecies. Other common names for the subspecies include the Indian peregrine falcon,black shaheen falcon,black shaheen, Indian shaheen, or the Pakistani shaheen, and the word shaheen in these names may also be spelled as shahin.
The taxon was formally described by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1837 as a separate species, Falco peregrinator, based on a juvenile specimen caught on a ship between Sri Lanka and the Nicobar Islands. Its taxonomic status as a subspecies of Falco peregrinus has been controversial for several years. Amidst conflicting views by ornithologists in the mid-19th century, the shaheen falcon was described as three new species: Falco shaheen from south India was described by Jerdon in 1839, Falco micrurus from Nepal and Burma was described by Hodgson in 1844, and Falco atriceps from Northern India was described by Hume in 1869. These three species were generally accepted as distinct until around the turn of the century, when all three were lumped together with Sundevall's Falco peregrinator as Falco peregrinus peregrinator.
The subspecies name peregrinator, Latin for a wanderer or habitual traveler, reflects its traveling ability.
The common English name shahin should not be confused with the same word in the Indo-European language Persian, the Turkic language Turkish, and the Afroasiatic language Arabic, where it may refer to falcons or a species of falcon. In the Indo-European language Hindi, shahin or shahin kohi refer to the female of the peregrinator subspecies, while males of the subspecies are referred to as kohila.
The shaheen is a small and powerful-looking falcon with blackish upperparts, rufous underparts with fine, dark streaks, and white on the throat. The complete black face mask is sharply demarcated from the white throat. It has distinctive rufous underwing-coverts. It differs in all these features from the paler F. p. calidus, which is a scarce winter migrant to Sri Lanka. Males and females have similar markings and plumage; apart from size there is no sexual dimorphism. The birds range in length from 380 to 440 mm. The male is about the size of a house crow (Corvus splendens); the female is larger.
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Wikipedia