Birds Photo Click 147: Saker Falcon (2)

Falco cherrug

Photographed in Mongolia.

The Saker Falcon is a large falcon that breeds from central Europe, eastwards across the Palearctic to Manchuria. It is mainly a migratory species, except in the southernmost parts of its range. It’s wintering grounds include Ethiopia, the Arabian peninsula, northern Pakistan and western China.

Photographed in Mongolia.

It’s preferred habitat is open grasslands, preferably with some trees or cliffs, where it often nests. It does not build a nest of it’s own but uses old stick nests built by other species, such as storks, buzzards and ravens.

Photographed in Mongolia.

The diet consists mainly of rodents, such as ground squirrels and birds, such as pigeons. Unlike the Peregrine’s (Falco peregrinus) stoop from a height, the Saker Falcon’s main hunting technique is by using horizontal pursuit.

Photographed in Mongolia.

It is a majestic bird and it comes as no surprise, that it has been chosen as the national bird of not one, but three countries; Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, and Mongolia.

It is an endangered species, that has declined rapidly. Though rare, it is recorded in the Maltese Islands, annually, during migration, especially during autumn migration.

Photographed in Malta.