A brown falcon - I think!

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While at the Small Farm Field Day recently, we came across a tent run by a group which rescues, treats and rehabilitates birds of prey. They had a wedge-tailed eagle on display, several owls and the smaller bird that you can see in the photo. My first thought was that is was what we used to call a ‘chicken hawk’ but it seems this is a common term applied to a few species of smaller birds of prey. After researching the size and colouring, I think is a brown falcon. These are found throughout Australia and vary in colour from dark to light brown with lighter underparts. That’s ‘underparts’, not ‘underpants’! They feed on small mammals, reptiles and insects. They sometimes use another bird’s old stick nest but may also build their own. The males are smaller than the females. The handlers were wearing heavy gloves which you can just see in the photo. I’m sure they need them. I might be missing for a few days now as we're going to another horse endurance ride. This one is about six hours drive away so we're going a day early and camping in the caravan along the way. We used to live in the town we're heading and we're hoping to catch up with a few of our old friends there before the ride..