Red-footed Falcon

Falco vespertinus

Hunts dragonflies on the wing in golden evening light. The most beautiful falcon you've never seen.

Population: roughly 300,000–800,000 individuals globally; European breeding population ~26,000–39,000 pairs and declining rapidly
Habitat: open steppe and wooded grassland with scattered trees (often near water) on the breeding grounds; grassland, savanna and scrubland with communal woodland roosts in winter
Fun fact: Red-footed Falcons build no nest of their own — they are colonial breeders that take over old stick nests of rooks, jackdaws, magpies and other corvids, often nesting in loose colonies within active rookeries, with fledging success higher in colonies than for solitary pairs.
Range: breeds from Eastern/Central Europe (Hungary, Ukraine, southern Russia) east across the steppe belt to central Siberia (Lake Baikal region); winters in southern/eastern Africa, with regular vagrancy to Western Europe and rare vagrancy to North America
Diet: mainly large insects (grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, dragonflies) caught on the wing or from perches, supplemented with amphibians, lizards, small rodents and nestling birds fed to chicks
Size: 0.3 m
Wingspan: 0.7 m
Lifespan: 13 years

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