The Amur Falcon is a small falcon of Asia and Africa that isn't found in the US. It makes one of the longest migrations of any bird of prey, breeding in East Asia and crossing India and the Arabian Sea to spend the winter in southern and eastern Africa.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 11–12 in (28–30 cm) long with a 25–28 in (63–71 cm) wingspan. Males are sooty gray with rusty thighs and undertail and bright white underwings in flight. Females are barred below. Both sexes have an orange-red eye-ring, bill base, and feet.
Look-alikes
Eurasian HobbyFalco subbuteo
The hobby has a black mustache mark, white throat, and heavily streaked breast. A male Amur Falcon is plain gray with white underwings, and both sexes of Amur show orange-red feet and eye-rings.
Why they get mixed upBoth are slim, long-winged falcons with rusty 'pants' that share migration routes in Asia.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- farmland
- open grassland
- Range
- Breeds in southeastern Siberia (Amurland and Transbaikalia), northern Mongolia, northern China, and North Korea, and winters in southern and East Africa.
- Seasonal presence
- A long-distance migrant. Stray birds have turned up as far away as Western Europe and islands in the South Atlantic, but not in the US.
- Preferred conditions
- Prefers open country such as fields and reclaimed land, often perching on wires, fences, or bare trees in the evening.
- Migration
- Crosses the Arabian Sea on its way to Africa, possibly fueling up on migrating Globe Skimmer dragonflies along the way.
Behavior
- Diet
- Mostly insects caught in the air or on the ground, especially in early morning and late evening. When feeding young, it also takes small birds, mammals, and frogs. In Africa it feasts on termites and locusts after the rains.
- Social life
- Unusually social for a falcon, it travels and roosts in big flocks.
Life cycle
- Breeding season
- May–June
- Nest
- Reuses old nests of crows, magpies, or other raptors, or tree holes. Several pairs may nest close together.
- Clutch size
- 3–4 eggs
- Incubation
- Both parents incubate; chicks hatch after about a month.
- Fledging
- Young leave the nest about a month after hatching.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
- Threats
- Its habit of gathering in huge flocks makes it easy to trap in large numbers along migration routes.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- In 2012, mass trapping of migrating Amur Falcons in Nagaland, India, made headlines. Village councils there then banned hunting and a patrol squad of former hunters formed to guard the roosts, and the site now draws visitors who come to watch the birds.
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