Barred Forest-falcon

Adults of most subspecies are typically dark slate grey above; the tail is tipped with white and has three to six narrow white bars. The throat is pale grey, 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 grey. The upper breast is a darker grey. The primary remiges are dark brownish-grey with off-white bars on the inner webs. One subspecies, M. r. zonothorax from the East Andean foothills, 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 grey. The nominate subspecies, which is found from southeastern Brazil south to northeastern Argentina and west to Paraguay, 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.