Red-footed Falcon

The Red-footed Falcon breeds across steppe and agricultural country from eastern Europe through much of Central Asia, migrating in large flocks to winter in southern Africa. Males and females look markedly different, males being dark slate-grey overall with rufous thigh and vent feathers and red legs, while females show a warm orange-buff body with grey-barred wings and back.

Feathers may be found near colonial nest sites, often in old crow or rook nests in scattered trees, or along migration stopover sites where large flocks gather.

IUCN status: Near Threatened, reflecting population declines linked to agricultural intensification on its breeding grounds.

Recognizing Red-footed Falcon feathers

• Flight feathers (male): Dark slate-grey, fairly uniform with little barring.
• Flight feathers (female): Grey above with distinct dark barring, contrasting with the orange-buff body.
• Tail feathers: Male tail dark grey; female tail grey with narrow dark bars.
• Body feathers: Male body feathers slate-grey overall except for rufous-orange thigh and undertail feathers; female body feathers rich orange-buff, especially on the underparts, with a pale forehead patch.
• Shaft color: Dark grey in males, pale buff in females.
• Compared to similar species: Very similar to the Amur Falcon; male Red-footed Falcons show white (not solidly rufous) underwing coverts, a subtle difference from the male Amur Falcon's more extensively rufous underwing.

Adult males are almost entirely dark slate-grey, with a red eye-ring, cere, and legs, and rufous-orange thighs and vent feathers. Adult females have a pale orange-buff face, throat, and underparts, a black mask around the eye, and grey, barred upperparts and tail. Juveniles resemble females but are duller and more streaked, molting into adult plumage over about two years for males.

Breeds colonially in steppe, farmland, and open woodland edge across eastern Europe and western/central Asia, often using old corvid nests. A long-distance migrant, wintering in open savanna of southern Africa, with huge migratory flocks passing through the Mediterranean and East Africa.

Feeds mainly on large insects such as grasshoppers and beetles, caught in flight or on the ground, plus occasional small vertebrates. Nests colonially, often alongside Rooks, in loose tree colonies. Calls are high, repeated 'kew-kew' notes near colonies. Feathers found near a colonial rookery-type nest site in steppe or farmland, especially in the eastern European or Central Asian breeding range, may belong to this species — check for grey-and-orange female patterning versus uniform slate-grey male feathers.