The sooty falcon (Falco concolor) is a medium-sized falcon, breeding from northeastern Africa to the southern Persian Gulf region, and wintering in East Africa (Mozambique, eastern South Africa) and Madagascar.

Taxonomy

The Sooty Falcon is part of the order Falconiformes, family Falconidae and genus Falco. The sooty falcon belongs to the hobby group, a rather close-knit number of similar falcons often considered a subgenus Falco. Eleonora's falcon F. eleonorae is sometimes considered its closest relative, but while they certainly belong to the same clade, they may not be direct sister species, with F. concolor possibly closer to Eurasian hobby F. subbuteo and African hobby F. cuvieri than it is to Eleonora's falcon. It is a rare vagrant north of its breeding range.

Ecology

Diet

In the breeding season, sooty falcons almost exclusively eat migrating birds (mostly passerines but also swifts, hoopoes, and others), as there are very few resident birds in its desert habitat. It will also take bats and large insects, such as dragonflies, which are transferred from talons to beak and eaten in flight. In winter, large insects form a far higher proportion of the diet. They have also been known to eat lizards and crabs.

Hunting behaviour

During winter the falcons hunt alone, in groups or even as flocks of up to 15 individuals. These hunting flocks tend to perch on trees and feed on swarming insects. During the breeding, summer, season males do the majority of the hunting. Four hunting techniques are employed:

  • Diving from a perch. The falcons spot prey from their perch and then dive down to catch it.
  • Flushing. Flushing is a technique used in which individual falcons fly low over bushes or trees in an attempts to flush other birds out, after which they catch them.
  • Flying up to come down. When a falcon spots a flying prey bird they try to fly further above it, and then dive down to intercept the prey.
  • Survey flight. Individuals circle areas at great heights in hopes of spotting a prey item. Once prey is spotted the falcon flies down below the prey, and then turns back up into the prey's flight path to catch it.

Migration

The falcons migrate from their breeding grounds in Southwest Asia and North Africa to winter in Eastern and South-eastern Africa. The journey takes approximately 13 days and covers a distance of 5500 kilometres. The falcons start their migration during the night but tend to travel only during the day. They stop-over at rest spots along Eastern Africa, spots where there are potential water sources.

Conservation

It was formerly classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, but has recently been shown to be rarer than formerly believed. Consequently, it was uplisted to Vulnerable status in 2017. Hence, mitigating human disturbances and protecting natural habitats is of critical conservation concern to the Sooty Falcon.

References

  • Sooty falcon - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.