Conservation status: LEAST CONCERN
Common name: Black-thighed falconet
Scientific name: Microhierax fringillarius
Type: Bird
Diet: insects, occasional small birds, and lizards
Length: 14 -16 cm
Weight: n/a
Description: 16 cm (6 in). Tiny size with small hooked dark greyish bill, blackish underparts, broad blackish patch on ear coverts separated from mantle by narrow white stripe which is joined to narrow down-curving supercilium diagnostic. Underparts white with rufous undertail coverts and inner thighs as well as buff suffusion on lower breast and flanks. Outer thighs blackish. Juvenile: Like adult but forehead, supercilium and cheek patch rufous. Voice: A shrill, high-pitched kli-kli-kli-kli in flight. Range: Tenasserim (Myanmar) and the Malay Peninsula to the Greater Sundas. Status and distribution: Locally common resident from low elevations up to 2031m on Gunung Batu Brinchang, Cameron Highlands (Pahang), south to Singapore, where it is currently a rare non-breeding dispersant. Habitat: Forests, the forest edge, plantations, sparsely wooded open country, wooded gardens. Habits: Usually in pairs. Sometimes in small groups of up to five, huddled together on bare branches of dead trees. Frequently darts out rapidly from a perch to capture flying insects. Will also attack small birds.
References
- A Field Guide to the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore by Allen Jeyarajasingam Illustrated by Alan Pearson.
- BirdLife International (2012). “Microhierax fringillarius“. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- Raptors of the World by Ferguson-Lees, Christie, Franklin, Mead & Burton. Houghton Mifflin (2001)
