The sooty falcon (Falco concolor) is a medium-sized falcon that breeds solely in the Middle East and north-eastern Africa, and winters in Madagascar and the SE African mainland. Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are important breeding areas. Unlike most falcons, the sooty falcon breeds late in the summer, feeding its young on birds that are migrating from Eurasia to Africa. Thus, it is both migratory itself, and highly dependent on the health of migratory populations of small birds to ensure its long-term persistence. As such its conservation is supported in a general way by the CMS approach aimed at conserving migrant species, and more specifically though the focused CMS effort spelled out in the MOU on Birds of Prey. Sooty falcons breed singly or in aggregations. Aggregations are found on islands and can be large, making those islands particularly important for conservation. One of the largest aggregations in the world occurs on Fahal Island, located about 5 km from the Omani capital, Muscat. The conservation status of the sooty falcon has been recently downgraded by BirdLife International to “Near-threatened” (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3606 last accessed 8 May 2012). It is classified as a Category 1 species under the CMS Action Plan for the conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia. Research to date, including recent work in Oman supported by the OCE, point to an estimated 15% decline in the population in recent decades, and that human disturbance, illegal killing and habitat loss are threats. It is arguably a good flagship species for conservation, but has never been used as such. Therefore, more general conservation efforts are not benefitting from its flagship species status. In recent years the OCE in Oman has supported the most extensive study in the world and survey of sooty falcons on its breeding grounds. A recent report can be downloaded here: http://www.natural-research.org/environmental-research-charity/current-r... . Although the OCE has lead on this effort, it has relied on the cooperation of Omani government, academic business and non-governmental organizations and international wildlife research organizations. A basic assumption of the Convention is that migratory species' conservation requires whole-range and trans-national approaches. The countries within the annual range of the sooty falcon are developing (Madagascar is classified by the UN as a "least developed" country (See Annex A) , often have large remote areas where sooty falcons are found, and in general dedicate few resources to wildlife conservation. Accepting the importance of building a range-wide partnership, it is reasonable to start by building a partnership between the country in which most sooty falcons winter (Madagascar) and a country that has a significant proportion of the breeding population and a history of sooty falcon research (Oman). Once this seed- partnership between these two countries is established, a larger group of cooperating countries can be assembled.