Sooty Falcon

About the Sooty Falcon

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. 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.

This is an elegant bird of prey, 32–37 cm long with a 78–90 cm wingspan. It is shaped like a large Eurasian hobby or a small Eleonora's falcon, with its long pointed wings, long tail and slim body. The adults are blue-grey, and lack the black underwing coverts of the Eleonora's falcon. The young bird is like a large juvenile hobby, or small juvenile Eleanora's falcon. Its dark trailing edge to the wings and tail distinguish it from the former species... Wikipedia →