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Amur Falcon
Falco amurensis
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| Status: Lower risk |
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| Population Trend: Unknown. |
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| Other Names: Amur Red-footed Falcon, Eastern Red-footed Falcon, Eastern Red-footed Kestrel, Manchurian Falcon, Manchurian Red-footed Falcon, Red-legged Falcon. |
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click to enlarge
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| Distribution: Afrotropical/Palearctic. Breeds from eastern SIBERIA eastward through Amurland to Ussuriland and south through northern MONGOLIA and MANCHURIA to NORTH KOREA, northeastern CHINA, and southern JAPAN; formerly in northeastern INDIA (Cachar); winters from northern BOTSWANA and MALAWI south through SOUTH AFRICA. more.... |
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| Subspecies: Monotypic. |
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| Taxonomy: Regarded as a race of the Red-footed Falcon F. vespertinus by Brown and Amadon (1968) and Cheng (1987),
but Thiollay (1994) separated the two on the basis of differences in female plumages, morphology, and behavior. There is no zone of overlap between the two species. Using nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, F. amurensis and F. vespertinus clustered as a sister clade to a group containing the Eleonora's Falcon (F. eleonorae), Sooty Falcon (F. concolor), and Eurasian Hobby. (F. subbuteo) (Wink and Ristow 2000, Wink and Sauer-Gürth 2004). |
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| Movements: Complete, long distance, trans-equatorial migrant (Bildstein 2006). Migrating birds leave their Asian breeding range and travel to northeastern India and Bangladesh, where they fatten up while staging for overland flights over peninsular India (Ali and Ripley 1984). This species then undertakes the longest regular overwater passage of any raptor as it crosses the Indian Ocean between southwestern India and tropical East Africa, a journey of more than 4,000 km, which also includes nocturnal flight (Bildstein and Zalles 2005). Birds arrive in their southern African winter range in November-December and depart by early May (Mendelsohn 1997). This species is an "elliptical migrant" (Kerlinger 1989), and its return route back to its breeding range is largely overland and to the north and west of its southbound route (Bildstein and Zalles op cit.). It is finely attuned to the strong monsoon tailwinds, which results in its late arrival in eastern Africa in autumn after its long flight from the Far East (Ash and Atkins 2009). more.... |
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| Habitat and Habits: In its breeding range, it occurs in open areas, woodland edge, wooded steppe, and agricultural areas (Brazil 2009). In its winter range in southern Africa, this species inhabits moist grasslands and open areas in woodland and is less common in the semi-arid habitats favored by the closely related Red-footed Kestrel. It also forages in crop-farming regions and roosts in towns (Mendelsohn 1997). In Africa, it occurs in large flocks, sometimes including Lesser Kestrels and Red-footed Falcons, which perch on trees and telephone wires and hover over open fields and grasslands. In some areas, roosts of these three species may number tens of thousands of birds.more.... |
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| Food and Feeding Behavior: On its winter range, large numbers are attracted to termite emergences, locust swarms, and crop harboring beetles and other insects (Mendelsohn 1979). This species searches for prey from telephone or electricity lines, or while hovering, dropping to the ground, kestrel-fashion, to capture prey and return to the perch to eat it.more.... |
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| Conservation: The status of this species is presently uncertain. There is no clear evidence for large-scale changes in its distribution and numbers in Africa (Mendelsohn 1997), but the grassland regions it favors are under severe pressure from agriculture and afforestation. Categorized globally as a species of "Least Concern" by BirdLife International. more.... |
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| Population Estimates: Anthony van Zyl, who organizes the Migrating Kestrel Project in South Africa, suggested that the global population is likely to be between 300,000 to 500,000, based on a count of 100,000 in South Africa during the 2008-2009 wintering season, and the assumption that large numbers of these birds winter in Zimbabwe and other countries north of South Africa (A. van Zyl, posting to africanraptors listserve on 11 Dec. 2009). more.... |
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Important References:
Brown, L.H., E.K. Urban, and K. Newman. 1982. The birds of Africa. Vol. 1.
Academic Press, London.
Cade, T.J. 1982. Falcons of the world. Cornell University Press, Ithaca,
NY.
Ferguson-Lees, J., and D.A. Christie. 2001. Raptors of the world. Houghton
Mifflin, Boston, MA.
Mendelsohn, J.M. 1997. Eastern Redfooted Kestrel. Pp. 262-263 in J.A.
Harrison et al. (eds.), The atlas of South African birds. Volume 1:
Non-passerines. BirdLife South Africa and Avian Demography
Unit, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Naoroji, R. 2006. Birds of prey of the Indian subcontinent. Christopher
Helm, London.
Orta, J. 1994. Amur Falcon. Pp. 265-266 in del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and
J. Sargatal (eds). Handbook of birds of the world. Vol. 2. New World
vultures to guineafowl. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
more....
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| Current Research:
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| Sites of Interest: |
VIREO
Amur Falcon photos.
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Researchers:
Corso, Andrea
Gurung, Surya
Le Manh, Hung
Naoroji, Rishad K.
van Zyl, Anthony
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Last modified: 12/11/2009 |
Recommended Citation: Global Raptor Information Network. 2010. Species account: Amur Falcon Falco amurensis. Downloaded from http://www.globalraptors.org on 9 Feb. 2010
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