The bat falcon (Falco rufigularis) is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It is found in Mexico, Central America, Trinidad, and every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay. Taxonomy and systematics The bat falcon was long known as Falco albigularis; the names Falco fusco-coerulescens or Falco fuscocaerulescens, long used for the aplomado falcon (F. femoralis) , are now believed to refer to the present species. The bat falcon has these three subspecies: F. r. petoensis Chubb, 1918 F. r. rufigularis Daudin, 1800 F. r. ophryophanes (Salvadori, 1895) Some authors maintain that F. r. petoensis and F. r. ophryophanes are not subspecies but clinal variations in plumage. Others add a fourth subspecies F. r. petrophilus that is usually included in petoensis. Yet others assign only two subspecies, the nominate F. r. rufigularis and F. r. petrophilus. The bat falcon and the orange-breasted falcon (F. deiroleucus) share plumage and vocal characteristics and may be sister species. Those two appear to be closely related to the aplomado falcon (F. femoralis). Description The bat falcon is long. Males weigh and have a wingspan of . Females weigh and have a wingspan of . They have long wings and a longish tail with a square tip. The sexes have similar plumage. Adults have blue-black head and upperparts with grayish edges on the feathers from the upper back to the uppertail coverts. Their throat, upper breast, and sides of the neck are white to buff, sometimes with some cinnamon; the rest of their breast is black with fine white bars. Their belly, thighs, and undertail coverts are chestnut-rufous. Their tail is blackish with thin white or grayish bars and a white or buff tip. The underside of their wings is black with fine white bars. Their cere and bare skin around the eye are bright yellow, their iris black-brown, and their legs and feet orange-yellow. Juveniles are duller and browner than adults, with a buffier throat, a tawny tinge to the breast's barring, and black bars or spots on the undertail coverts. The three subspecies are similar, differing mainly in the tone of their plumage colors. Distribution and habitat The subspecies of the bat falcon are found thus: F. r. petoensis, from northern Mexico south through all of Central America and west of the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, and extreme northwestern Peru F. r. rufigularis, Trindad and from