Red-footed falcon
Falco vespertinus Linnaeus, 1766
The red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus), also called the Western red-footed falcon or Western red-footed kestrel, is a small bird of prey in the family Falconidae and order Falconiformes. Adults weigh 151.5 g, with reported values from 144.2 to 168.5 g, and have a wingspan of 72 cm.
Quick facts about the red-footed falcon
It is a migratory, aerial-foraging invertivore of grassland habitat, with a geographic range of 9,360,000 km². The species is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, a threatened category, and lays 3.5 eggs per clutch with one clutch per year.
- Weight
- 144.2 g – 168.5 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 72 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 13.2 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 18 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grasslandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 24.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 11.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the red-footed falcon?
Photos of the red-footed falcon
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the red-footed falcon live?
Not recorded
What is the red-footed falcon?
The red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus), formerly the western red-footed falcon, is a bird of prey. It belongs to the family Falconidae, the falcons. This bird is found in eastern Europe and Asia although its numbers are dwindling rapidly due to habitat loss and hunting. It is migratory, wintering in Africa. It is a regular wanderer to western Europe, and in August 2004 a red-footed falcon was found in North America for the first time on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
From the Wikipedia article “Red-footed falcon” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red-footed_falcon&oldid=1369731520), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the red-footed falcon endangered?
The red-footed falcon is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.
How is the red-footed falcon classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderFalconiformes
- familyFalconidae
- genusFalco
- SpeciesFalco vespertinus Linnaeus, 1766
Synonyms Erythropus vespertinus transriphaeus, Falco pyrrhogaster, Falco rufipes, Falco vespertinus obscurus, Hierax rufipes
Other names and names in other languages (101)
- RFFAEnglish
- Western red-footed falconEnglish
- Western red-footed falconEnglish
- Western red-footed kestrelEnglish
- Westelike RooipootvalkAfrikaans
- لزيقArabic
- البزيقArabic
- بزيق شائعArabic
- عويسق أحمرArabic
- صقر أحمر القدمينArabic
- Ciquilín patirroyoAragonese
- peñerina patarroxaAsturian
- GərkincəkAzerbaijani
- КобчыкBelarusian
- Сокал-шуленакBelarusian
- Сокал-шулёнакBelarusian
- Вечерна ветрушкаBulgarian
- Червенонога ветрушкаBulgarian
- Falc'hun pavioù ruzBreton
- falcó cama-roigCatalan
- Xoriguer cama-roigCatalan
- Изи вӓрӓшMari
- ХӗрхиChuvash
- poštolka rudonoháCzech
- cudyll troedgochWelsh
- cudyll troetgochWelsh
- Cudyllod TroetgochWelsh
- RotfußfalkeGerman
- ΜαυροφάλκονοGreek
- ΜαυροκιρκίνεζοGreek
- Ευρωπαϊκό ΜαυροκιρκίνεζοGreek
- ruĝpieda falkoEsperanto
- Cernícalo patirrojoSpanish
- punajalg-pistrikEstonian
- Belatz hankagorriBasque
- شاهین پاسرخPersian
- punajalkahaukkaFinnish
- KvøldsmyrilFaroese
- Faucon kobezFrench
- Fabhcún cosdeargIrish
- Seabhag dhearg chasachScottish Gaelic
- Seabhag Dhearg-ChasaichScottish Gaelic
- Lagarteiro patirrubioGalician
- Shawk jiarg-chassaghManx
- בז ערבHebrew
- Crnonoga vjetrušaCroatian
- crvenonoga vjetrušaCroatian
- kék vércseHungarian
- Բազե կարմրաոտArmenian
- KvöldfálkiIcelandic
- Falco cuculoItalian
- ニシアカアシチョウゲンボウJapanese
- თვალშავიGeorgian
- წითელფეხა შავარდენიGeorgian
- Чабылгайkjn
- БєктергіKazakh
- БөктергіKazakh
- 붉은발조롱이Korean
- 비둘기조롱이Korean
- Kakodikwn
- RoutpattfallekLuxembourgish
- raudonkojis sakalasLithuanian
- kukaiņu piekūnsLatvian
- сина ветрушкаMacedonian
- Црвенонога (Вечерна) ветрушкаMacedonian
- ŻumbrellMaltese
- Турмтай шонхорMongolian
- roodpootvalkDutch
- kveldsfalkNorwegian Nynorsk
- aftenfalkNorwegian
- МæхъхъылOssetic
- kobczyk (zwyczajny)Polish
- KobczykPolish
- falcão-verpertinoPortuguese
- falcão-de-pés-vermelhosPortuguese
- falcão-vespertinoPortuguese
- Falcun vespertinRomansh
- Vânturel de searăRomanian
- КобчикRussian
- КырбыйYakut
- VeaigefálliNorthern Sami
- sokol kobcovitýSlovak
- Sokol červenonohýSlovak
- rdečenoga postovkaSlovenian
- skifteri këmbëkuqAlbanian
- сива ветрушкаSerbian
- Siva vetruškaSerbian
- Siva vetruška / Сива ветрушкаSerbian
- aftonfalkSwedish
- Kozi Miguu-myekunduSwahili
- เหยี่ยวตีนแดงThai
- GyrgyTurkmen
- ala doğanTurkish
- PhakwêTswana
- Кызыл-буттуг шаңгырTuvinian
- КібчикUkrainian
- кібчик червононогийUkrainian
- 紅腳隼Chinese
- 紅足隼Chinese
- 西紅腳隼Chinese
- 西红脚隼Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the red-footed falcon
Other species in the same genus Falco.
Peregrine falcon
Falco peregrinus
Common kestrel
Falco tinnunculus
Eurasian hobby
Falco subbuteo
Merlin
Falco columbarius
Gyrfalcon
Falco rusticolus
Lesser kestrel
Falco naumanni
CompareRed-footed falcon vs Peregrine falconRed-footed falcon vs Common kestrelRed-footed falcon vs Eurasian hobbyRed-footed falcon vs Merlin
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the red-footed falcon?
The red-footed falcon is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae, order Falconiformes and genus Falco.
How heavy is the red-footed falcon?
Adults weigh 151.5 g, with reported values from 144.2 to 168.5 g. Its wingspan is 72 cm.
What does the red-footed falcon eat?
The red-footed falcon is an invertivore, placed at the carnivore trophic level.
Is the red-footed falcon endangered?
The red-footed falcon is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List, which is a threatened category.
How long does the red-footed falcon live?
Its lifespan is given as 13.2 years, with values up to 18 years reported.
How many eggs does the red-footed falcon lay?
It lays 3.5 eggs per clutch, with one clutch per year and an incubation period of 24.5 days.
Is the red-footed falcon migratory?
Yes, the red-footed falcon is migratory, and its geographic range covers 9,360,000 km².
Who named the red-footed falcon?
The red-footed falcon was named Falco vespertinus by Linnaeus, 1766.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-footed-falcon
“Red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-footed-falcon.
@misc{red_footed_falcon_2026,
title = {Red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-footed-falcon},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}