Food
Snakes, lizards, small rodents, bats, centipedes.
Voice
Call is a slow series of middle- to high-pitched, nasal 'wow' notes. Song is a very long, slow series of high-pitched, nasal 'wah' notes or strings of joined 'who' notes.
Laughing Falcon (Herpetotheres cachinnans) [XC427470]
by Rosendo Fraga from \u00c1rea 7 - Consultoria Terracal, Guadalupe-PI, Piau\u00ed, Brazil (canto)
Laughing Falcon (Herpetotheres cachinnans) [XC799798]
by Dante Buzzetti from Quebrada Madrigal, Cambao, Cundinamarca, Colombia (begging call)
Nest
In arock crevice, tree cavity or an old nest of a hawk or caracara.
Eggs (Guide)
1, perhaps sometimes 2; brow, white or pale buff with heavy dark brown markings.
Subspecies
Different authors recognize 2 - 6 subspecies: possible subspecies excubitor included within chapmani; maestus and fulvescens within nominate.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
chapmani (Linnaeus, 1758) - Mexico (southern Sonora and San Luis Potosí) south to Honduras.
cachinnans (Linnaeus, 1758) - Nicaragua to Colombia and south to Peru and central Brazil.
queribundus Bangs and Penard, 1919 - Eastern Bolivia and eastern Brazil (south to São Paulo) to Paraguay and northern Argentina.
fulvescens Chapman, 1915 - Eastern Panama and north-western Colombia to north-western Peru.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet