• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Range map
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Taxonomic note

Falco chicquera and F. ruficollis (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as F. chicquera following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Near Threatened	A2c+3c+4c
2014	Near Threatened	A2c+3c+4c
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	208 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	5,800,000 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	estimated	2009
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	2007-2026
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	25-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	25-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	25-29%	-	-	-
Generation length	6.2 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The population is estimated to number in the tens of thousands.

Trend justification: No trend data are available, but the species is suspected to be undergoing a moderately rapid population decline (approaching 30% over three generations [c.19 years]), owing to ongoing habitat degradation.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Bangladesh	extant	native	yes
Bhutan	extant	uncertain
India	extant	native		yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	presence uncertain	uncertain
Myanmar	extant	vagrant
Nepal	extant	native	yes
Pakistan	extant	native	yes
Sri Lanka	extant	vagrant

Country/Territory	IBA Name
India	Guru Ghasidas Tiger Reserve
India	Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary
Nepal	Dang Deukhuri foothill forests and west Rapti wetlands
Nepal	Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and Koshi Barrage
Nepal	Mai Valley forests

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 1400 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 7
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Red-headed Falcon Falco chicquera. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/red-headed-falcon-falco-chicquera on 20/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 20/01/2025.