A less-than-annual breeding cycle in a pair of African Bat Hawks Machaeramphus alcinus

This cycle differs from the known situation in rural Bat Hawks which lay annually mainly during September and October. These probably take advantage of easily-caught pregnant female bats in September/October in order to attain breeding condition, whereas fledgling Bat Hawks take advantage of recently independent but naive juvenile bats in January/February. The relative dearth of bats in rural areas outside this period may account for the regular annual breeding of Bat Hawks at the time of greatest prey availability.