Falco femoralis
Aplomado Falcons are part of the Falconidae family in the order Falconiformes.
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We are thrilled to have an Aplomado Falcon thanks to The Peregrine Fund in Boise, Idaho. We picked her up on July 2nd in 2013 at 17 days of age and fresh out of their breeding project. She rode home in a laundry basket and hung out in a baby play pen (and on the window sill in the office) as a growing girl. This Northern subspecies disappeared from the U.S. in the 1950's and was listed as endangered in 1986. Habitat destruction and later on pesticides caused their demise, and a breeding and re-introduction program was started by the Santa Cruz Predatory Research Group, and continued by The Peregrine Fund. A small population has been established in Texas, and breeding project came to a close, this just about the last one.
Aplomado means "lead-colored" in Spanish, and as the down was replaced with contour and flight feathers, we see that coloration and the signature bold markings. Her name comes from the state in Mexico where they probably lived before their extirpation, or local extinction. She had her debut program on Montana Public Radio, the Pea Green Boat children's programing. Sonora was back on the air two months later, all grown up and with her favorite toy, a plastic lizard.
A red 100 watt bulb and heated perch keep her warm, and she spends an hour or two every day indoors with a perch on top of the book case and on a house plant. Sonora is a perfect educator, just back from an assembly at Paxson School in Missoula.
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