Many species of larger falcons are seen in captivity as a result of traditional falconry practices. However, there are many much smaller species that are mainly insectivorous that are not used in falconry but are seldom or never seen in zoos, at least in Europe. Has anyone here seen this type of bird anywhere, either in captivity or the wild? I would think that they would be reasonably easy to maintain judging by the way their larger relatives are kept and bred.
1 species only of falconet : the African pygmy-falcon is present in Europe (4 holders) but also in America.
I have seen the African pygmy falcon at London Zoo some years ago, and before that they had a laughing falcon, which is in the same family as the forest falcons. devilfish has a photo of the same species taken at RioZoo.
In the 1970s the Red-thighed Falconet was commonly seen in European collections although rarely if ever successfully bred. There are several small falcons being kept in captivity in Europe that are not typical falconry birds including Red-footed Falcons, American Kestrels and Lesser Kestrels. Zoos and falconry centres have been very poor at maintaining smaller species in captivity long-term. There is not the demand for these that exists for the larger falcons, that are now becoming rapidly domesticated.
They were also kept in Surgut Mini-Zoo in Russia for three years before the collection went out of them for unknown reasons last year.
