Red-necked falcon
Falco chicquera Daudin, 1800
NTNear Threatenedbirds of prey
The red-necked falcon (Falco chicquera) is a species in the family Falconidae, order Falconiformes. Recorded adults weigh 159 g to 248 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Near Threatened.
Quick facts about the red-necked falcon
- Weight
- 159 g – 248 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 55 cm – 70 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- woodlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 33 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.5 – 4src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the red-necked falcon?
Where does the red-necked falcon live?
Not recorded
What is the red-necked falcon?
The red-necked falcon (Falco chicquera) is a bird of prey in the falcon family with two disjunct populations, one in India and the other in Africa. This medium-sized falcon has bluish grey wings and upper body, a chestnut red cap with short chin straps passing through the eye. The primary feathers of the wing are black and a single black band at the tip of the tail are distinctive. The Indian subspecies Falco chicquera chicquera also known as the red-headed merlin or red-headed falcon is found mainly in the open plains of the India Subcontinent although it is thought to have occurred further west in southeastern Iran. The subspecies Falco chicquera ruficollis found in sub-Saharan Africa is sometimes treated as a full species, the rufous-necked falcon (Falco ruficollis), on the basis of its well-separated geographic range and distinctive pattern. It appears very similar to the Indian form but has dark barring on the upperparts, a rufous breast band, and black moustachial and eye stripes. As in most falcons, the females are larger and falconers in India called the female turumti and the male as chatwa. They hunt in pairs mostly at dawn and dusk, capturing small birds, bats and squirrels.
From the Wikipedia article “Red-necked falcon” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red-necked_falcon&oldid=1353033454), 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-necked falcon endangered?
The red-necked falcon is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- 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 Near Threatened species.
How is the red-necked falcon classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderFalconiformes
- familyFalconidae
- genusFalco
- SpeciesFalco chicquera Daudin, 1800
Synonyms Falco chiquera
Other names and names in other languages (45)
- Red-headed falconEnglish
- Red-headed falconEnglish
- RNFAEnglish
- RooinekvalkAfrikaans
- صقر أحمر العنقArabic
- তুরমতি বাজBangla
- Falc'hun penn ruzBreton
- falcó cap-roigCatalan
- dřemlík rudohlavýCzech
- hebog gwargochWelsh
- Rødhovedet DværgfalkDanish
- RotkopffalkeGerman
- RothalsfalkeGerman
- ruĝkapa falkoEsperanto
- Alcotán turumtiSpanish
- Alcotán cuellirrojoSpanish
- palmipistrikEstonian
- شاهین سرحناییPersian
- palmuhaukkaFinnish
- Faucon chicqueraFrench
- Fabhcún ceanndeargIrish
- בז אדום-עורףHebrew
- riđoglavi sokolCroatian
- vörösnyakú sólyomHungarian
- TurumtiItalian
- Falco collorossoItalian
- Falco testarossaItalian
- アカガシラチョウゲンボウJapanese
- rudagalvis sakalasLithuanian
- rudkakla piekūnsLatvian
- ചെന്തലയൻ പുള്ള്Malayalam
- RoodkopsmellekenDutch
- rødhodefalkNorwegian
- sokół rudogłowyPolish
- falcão-de-nuca-vermelhaPortuguese
- ТурумтиRussian
- sokol červenohlavýSlovak
- Crvenovrati sokoSerbian
- rödhuvad falkSwedish
- Turumtay DoğanıTurkish
- Kızıl boyunlu doğanTurkish
- PhakweTswana
- турумтіUkrainian
- 紅頸隼Chinese
- 红头隼Chinese
Relatives of the red-necked 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
Red-footed falcon
Falco vespertinus
CompareRed-necked falcon vs Peregrine falconRed-necked falcon vs Common kestrelRed-necked falcon vs Eurasian hobbyRed-necked falcon vs Merlin
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the red-necked falcon?
An adult red-necked falcon weighs 159 g – 248 g and has a wingspan of 55 cm – 70 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the red-necked falcon endangered?
The red-necked falcon is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is close to qualifying as threatened.
What kind of animal is the red-necked falcon?
The red-necked falcon (Falco chicquera) belongs to the family Falconidae in the order Falconiformes.
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).
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CreatureData. (2026). Red-necked falcon (Falco chicquera). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-necked-falcon
“Red-necked falcon (Falco chicquera).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-necked-falcon.
@misc{red_necked_falcon_2026,
title = {Red-necked falcon (Falco chicquera)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-necked-falcon},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}