The rest of the under parts, including the under-wing coverts, are white, finely and clearly barred with black or dark gray.

[8] The barred forest falcon feeds on lizards, small birds, mammals (mainly rodents and marsupials such as the Brazilian slender opossum, Marmosops paulensis), bats, snakes, and frogs.

[8][11] Like Accipiter hawks, they often hunt prey by sitting quietly on tree branches and waiting for their victims to appear.

When the prey arrives, the forest falcons quickly ambush them, attempting to catch them with a brief, flying pursuit.

[11] The barred forest falcon's breeding season in Guatemala is from mid-April to early August.

Almost all of the data on its breeding biology were collected in Guatemala during the Peregrine Fund's Maya Project.

The barred forest falcon's "advertising call" is "a somewhat dog-like, monotonous yapping, “keyak”, “ark” or similar".

It has an extremely large range and an estimated population of at least a half million mature individuals, though the latter is believed to be decreasing.