Long-tailed cuckoo also have long pointed wings, a long tail and rapid wing beats. The falcon lacks the obvious cream/pale rump of the harrier and glides with its wings set flat rather than in a shallow V-shape. Falcons are more often seen in active chasing flights rather than the lazy quartering flights typical of the harrier. Similar species: Sometimes confused with the swamp harrier that is commonly seen feeding on road-kill, the falcon very rarely feeds on carrion, and is smaller. Adult females and juveniles will also вЂwhineвЂ™ for food and a вЂchitterвЂ™ is often uttered during interactions between falcons. The femaleвЂ™s call is deeper than the maleвЂ™s more high pitched call. Voice: A loud вЂkek kek kekвЂ™ is commonly uttered in defence of a territory by both adults during the breeding season. Recent fledglings and juveniles are more uniformly dark brown, lacking the defined cream streaks on the breast, and their legs, eye-ring and cere are blue-grey. Adults have yellow legs, eye-ring and cere, are largely dark brown on the back, have a streaked cream breast and a rufous under tail and thighs. All ages have a dark eye and a distinct moustache or malar stripe running from the back of a strongly hooked bill vertically down the face. Males are approximately a third smaller than females. When perched they have an upside-down teardrop shaped silhouette. Wings and tail open out into a more rounded shape when soaring. Often seen hunting small passerines in dramatic chases, they have long pointed wings and a long tail. Where they nest on the ground they are well known for attacking intruders, including humans, with aggressive dive-bombing strikes to the head.

Laying their eggs in simple scrapes they can nest in a variety of locations, from within the epiphytes that grow in large trees, to on the ground under small rocky outcrops.

More recently they have been discovered breeding in exotic pine plantations. Adapted to hunt within the dense New Zealand forests they are also found in more open habitats such as tussocklands and roughly grazed hill country. The New Zealand falcon is a magpie-sized raptor that feeds predominantly on live prey.

Falcon vs hawk