The barred forest falcon (Micrastur ruficollis) is a species of bird of prey in subfamily Herpetotherinae of family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It occurs from southern Mexico south through most of Central America and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay. Taxonomy and systematics The barred forest falcon has these six subspecies: M. r. guerilla Cassin, 1849 M. r. interstes Bangs, 1907 M. r. zonothorax (Cabanis, 1866) M. r. concentricus (Lesson, 1830) M. r. ruficollis (Vieillot, 1817) M. r. olrogi Amadon, 1964 What is now the lined forest falcon (M. gilvicollis) was previously included as a seventh subspecies. Description The barred forest falcon is long. Males weigh and females . Adults of most subspecies are typically dark slate gray above; the tail is tipped with white and has three to six narrow white bars. The throat is pale gray, shading to the darker slate of the crown. The rest of the under parts, including the under-wing coverts, are white, finely and clearly barred with black or dark gray. The upper breast is a darker gray. The primary remiges are dark brownish-gray with off-white bars on the inner webs. Subspecies, M. r. zonothorax is polymorphic (at least in the northern part of its range), and also occurs in a brown morph, where most of the upperparts, head, and chest are brown or rufous instead of gray. The nominate subspecies M. r. ruficollis appears to only occur in the rufous-brown morphotype, as also suggested by its scientific name, M. r. ruficollis. The eyes are cream to light orange brown; the bill black, becoming yellow at base of the lower mandible; the cere, lores, and orbit are yellow, and the legs are orange-yellow. Distribution and habitat The subspecies of the barred forest falcon are found thus: M. r. guerilla, from San Luis Potosí in central Mexico south to Nicaragua, but excluding the Yucatán Peninsula and El Salvador M. r. interstes, from Costa Rica south through Panama, western Colombia, and western Ecuador into extreme northwestern Peru M. r. zonothorax, the Venezuelan Coastal Range, the Serranía del Perijá on the Venezuela-Colombia border, Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and Cordillera Oriental, and south in the foothills along the east side of the Andes through Ecuador and Peru into Boliva M. r. concentricus, southern Venezuela, the Guianas, and the Amazon Basin of Brazil M. r. ruficollis, Brazil south of Amazonia, Paraguay, and