Wandering Nomad Family: Saker Falcon

Wednesday 22 January 2020

Saker Falcon

Saker Falcon

IUCN Status: Endangered (Threatened)

Clicked: February of 2006

In: Western Rajasthan

Gear: Fuji Finepix S5600

Binomial Name: Falco cherrug

IUCN Status: Endangered (Threatened)

Continuing with the desert birds series. I had clicked this picture long long back, about 14 years ago, though had narrowed it down to some kind of falcon, but was had not been able to identify it further. The image is of pretty poor quality as it is cropped from a mere 5 MP bridgecam, and serves as a record shot at best.

And only yesterday, I saw a picture on a birding group in fb, of Saker Falcon in Sambhar Salt Lake. I had learnt over the past years that the Saker is an endangered bird, but seeing that image, brought back to mind this pic which I had clicked long back, and voila on cross checking with the various references now available this turned out to be the Saker (in my opinion, please comment and correct me if wrong). I differentiated it from the smaller falcons based on its larger size and from juvenile Laggar, juvenile Peregrine and juvenile Barbary Falcons based on its tail extending noticeably beyond closed wings and reconfirmed it by comparing images on the internet of these probable contenders...

Now what makes the Saker Falcon unique?

The Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) is a large and spectacular bird of prey. Due to its prowess as a hunter, it has been prized by humans for centuries, particularly by falconers in the Gulf Region. Over recent decades wild populations of the Saker Falcon have declined dramatically.

The Saker falcon has been used in falconry for thousands of years, and is a highly regarded falconry bird. Swift and powerful, it is effective against medium and large game bird species. In recent years it is possible that hybrids of saker falcons and peregrine falcons have been developed in order to provide falconers a bird with greater size and horizontal speed than the peregrine and with greater propensity for diving stoops on game than the saker.

Courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saker_falcon

The Saker is the National Bird of Mongolia. Also, the national bird of Hungary, the mythical Turul, was probably a saker falcon.

Why has the Saker Falcon been categorised as Endangered?

As per https://www.iucnredlist.org/

"This species has been uplisted to Endangered because a revised population trend analysis indicates that it may be undergoing a very rapid decline. This negative trend is a result of a range of anthropogenic factors including electrocution on power lines, unsustainable capture for the falconry trade, as well as habitat degradation and the impacts of agrochemicals, and the rate of decline appears to be particularly severe in the species's central Asian breeding grounds.''