The Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) is a bird of prey in the genus Falco from the prairies of North America. Adults have thin, tapered wings, which enable them to fly at high speed and change direction rapidly. Fledglings, in their first year of flying, have longer flight feathers, which make their configuration more like that of a general-purpose bird such as a broadwing. This makes flying easier while learning the exceptional skills required to be effective hunters as adults. Unlike hawks and eagles, prairie falcons kill prey with their beaks, just like all falcons. Like all falcons, they also exhibit sexual dimorphism, with the females typically larger than the males, thus allowing a wider range of prey species. As is the case with many birds of prey, prairie falcons have exceptional powers of vision; the visual acuity of one species has been measured at 2.6 times that of a normal human.
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