Raptors are birds of prey and there are twenty-four species of Australian raptor, including hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, osprey and falcons.
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Raptors are readily identified by their hooked bills, intense eyes and powerful feet and sharp claws.
Humans have long had a fascination with these beautiful birds and watching them hunt is unforgettable.
Brown Falcons (Falco berigora) are one of the most common raptors in Australia and are found everywhere.
They are a medium-sized bird, and are 40-50 cm long with the tail making up almost half of this length.
They have a large head and long legs and the females are larger than the male.
These falcons have a range of plumage colours from very dark brown to light brown above and off white below and wings spotted red-brown.
The head is red brown with two dark vertical stripes on the face giving the distinctive tear drop markings of falcons. They have barring on the tail.
They are commonly seen along the roadside often perched on fence posts, power poles and the tops of dead trees or handy shrubs and prefer open grassland with scattered trees.
They stay in the same area throughout the year and are resident at Hexham Swamp.
I spent an enjoyable hour there recently watching a pair hunt from the fence bordering the National Park.
Brown Falcons have a flexible diet and eat mice, young rabbits, some ground birds, insects and lizards.
This flexibility is probably the reason for their widespread distribution.
They have a variety of hunting methods ranging from perching on a low perch, such as a fence, from which they pounce on their prey, running along the ground and leaping onto their target, as well as aerial pursuit and hovering.
Unlike other raptors, Brown Falcons lack the clutching foot mechanism to catch and kill their prey.
Instead they have a powerful hooked bill with specialised tomial teeth which can sever neck bones in one bite.
These falcons use the stick nests of other raptors or corvids, usually in a tree and produce two or three eggs during the breeding season.
Occasionally the spcies will build its own stick nest in a tree. At other times the birds may nest in open tree hollows.
Both sexes share the incubation of the eggs, and both care for the young.
They are very vocal and make a loud high-pitched cackling sound and screeching in flight. They are usually silent when perched.
