© Meidad Goren

The Sooty Falcon, Falco concolor

The Sooty Falcon is a medium-sized falcon with long and narrow wings whose tips extend noticeably beyond the tail when in perched position. Adult individuals have dark plumage and females are about 5% larger than males, having darker colouration and less contrast between body plumage and primary feathers. The common name of the Sooty Falcon derives from the colour of its adult feathers.

Sooty Falcons are long-distance migrants that breed in some of the most desolate and inhospitable environments of the planet. They have a patchy and highly localised breeding pattern, nesting in the deserts of West Asia and North Africa, in Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, but also in the Red Sea islands and coasts south to Eritrea and Yemen, and in the islands of Oman to Qatar.

Information on the size of breeding populations of Sooty Falcons is scattered both geographically and chronologically. In 2017, the Sooty Falcon was classified by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Vulnerable and in continuous decline. Using the best information available, the International Single Species Action Plan for the Sooty Falcon 2024-2036 (see below) has estimated the global number of mature individuals at 2,298-3,194.

 

     

© Meidad Goren | © Waheed Al Fazari | © Waheed Al Fazari

 Work under the Raptors MOU

In 2013, the Coordinating Unit of the Raptors MOU commissioned the development of a draft International Single Species Action Plan (ISSAP) for Sooty Falcon, also establishing at the time a Sooty Falcon Working Group (SFWG) to support the development of that plan (see document UNEP/CMS/Raptors/MOS2/8).

At the Second Meeting of Signatories to the Raptors MOU (Trondheim, October 2015), the Coordinating Unit noted that financial resources were urgently needed to organise an action planning workshop to enable finalising the 2013 draft ISSAP (see document UNEP/CMS/Raptors/MOS2/Report). Such resources, however, did not become available, and this impeded the developed draft from being finalised.

Since 2013, the global conservation status of the Sooty Falcon deteriorated, reiterating the urgency of finalising an ISSAP.

The work to finalise an ISSAP was able to recommence in 2022. The Sooty Falcon Working Group was also revitalised in that year, integrating Range State representatives and independent species experts to contribute technical advice to the plan. Following the Third Meeting of Signatories (Dubai, July 2023), Sooty Falcon Range States also collaborated with the Coordinating Unit to review drafts of the ISSAP. A side event to intriduce the draft Action Plan was held at the 14th Meeting of the CMS Conference of the Parties (Samarkand, February 2024). The Parties requested that the Standing Committee adopt the document in consultation with the Scientific Council.

The final draft of the ISSAP was approved by the Scientific Council at the 6th meeting of its Sessional Committee in September 2024 and the ISSAP was endorsed by the Standing Committee at it 56th meeting in March 2025. 

 

"The International Single Species Action Plan for the Sooty Falcon 2024 – 2036 (ISSAP) aims to reduce the risk of extinction of the Sooty Falcon (Falco concolor) by halting the decline of its population to a point where it qualifies for downlisting to at least Near Threatened. The ISSAP has been developed using the best information available on the biology, ecology, conservation status and threats to the species."

 

Resources

 

    

© Meidad Goren | © Meidad Goren | © Waheed Al Fazari