Saker falcon
Falco cherrug J. E. Gray, 1834
The saker falcon (Falco cherrug) is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae, order Falconiformes. It is a migratory carnivore of grassland, with an adult body mass from 870 g to 1.13 kg and a wingspan from 97 cm to 1.26 m.
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Quick facts about the saker falcon
It lays one clutch per year of 4 eggs, which are incubated for 29 days, and reaches sexual maturity at 2 years. The IUCN Red List classifies the saker falcon as Endangered (EN), a threatened category.
- Weight
- 870 g – 1.13 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 97 cm – 1.26 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 15.9 years – 25 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grasslandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 29 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.9 – 4src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 23.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Generalistsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the saker falcon?
Photos of the saker falcon
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the saker falcon live?
Not recorded
What is the saker falcon?
The saker falcon (Falco cherrug) is a large falcon species. It breeds from Central Europe eastwards across the Palearctic to Manchuria. It is a partial migrant, which means that some part of the population is migratory, some part is not. In Europe, for example, a part of the juveniles are migrating, while adults are mostly resident. The European and West Asian migratory sakers spend the winter in the Sahel region. On migration, they cross the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and Pakistan, where they are exposed to illegal trapping. The migratory birds to the east from Altai Mountains spend the winter in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
The saker falcon is the second fastest bird in level flight after the white-throated needletail swift (unconfirmed), capable of reaching 150 km/h (93 mph). It is also the third fastest animal in the world overall after the peregrine falcon and the golden eagle, with all three species capable of executing high speed dives known as "stooping", approaching 300 km/h (190 mph). The saker falcon is the national bird of Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, and Mongolia. It is called by Arabs Hur, i.e., "Free-bird", and it has been used in falconry in the Arabian Peninsula since ancient times. Saker falcons are the national bird of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Yemen and have been integral to Arab heritage and culture for over 9,000 years . They are the national emblem of many Arab countries.
From the Wikipedia article “Saker falcon” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saker_falcon&oldid=1384622865), 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 saker falcon endangered?
The saker falcon is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very 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 Endangered species.
How is the saker falcon classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderFalconiformes
- familyFalconidae
- genusFalco
- SpeciesFalco cherrug J. E. Gray, 1834
Other names and names in other languages (83)
- Altai falconEnglish
- SAFAEnglish
- SakerEnglish
- SakerEnglish
- صقر حرArabic
- صقر الحرArabic
- صقر الشروقيArabic
- صقر الغزالArabic
- Falcón sacreAragonese
- falcón sagráuAsturian
- BalobanAzerbaijani
- Сокал-балабанBelarusian
- Ловен соколBulgarian
- Falc'hun sakrBreton
- Falcó sacreCatalan
- falcó sagratCatalan
- ЭтелӗкChuvash
- ЭтелĕкChuvash
- raroh velkýCzech
- hebog sacrWelsh
- SlagfalkDanish
- WürgfalkeGerman
- SakerfalkeGerman
- ΣτεπογέρακοGreek
- tartarfalkoEsperanto
- Tatara falkoEsperanto
- Halcón sacreSpanish
- stepipistrikEstonian
- بالابانPersian
- بالابان (پرنده)Persian
- aavikkohaukkaFinnish
- Faucon sacreFrench
- Fabhcún SacarIrish
- בז צידיםHebrew
- בז ציידיםHebrew
- stepski sokolCroatian
- kerecsensólyomHungarian
- ԲալոբանArmenian
- VargfálkiIcelandic
- SacroItalian
- Falco sacroItalian
- セーカーハヤブサJapanese
- ワキスジハヤブサJapanese
- ბარიGeorgian
- გავაზიGeorgian
- ბარი (ფრინველი)Georgian
- Тöз ала ылачынkjn
- ИтелгіKazakh
- 세이커매Korean
- 헨다손매Korean
- BalabanKurdish
- SakerfallekLuxembourgish
- taurusis sakalasLithuanian
- stepes piekūnsLatvian
- Степски соколMacedonian
- ловџиски соколMacedonian
- Bies Rasu BajdaMaltese
- Идлэг шонхорMongolian
- SakervalkDutch
- tartarfalkNorwegian
- raróg (zwyczajny)Polish
- RarógPolish
- sacrePortuguese
- falcão-sacrePortuguese
- Şoim dunăreanRomanian
- Șoim dunăreanRomanian
- БалобанRussian
- TatárfálliNorthern Sami
- sokol rárohSlovak
- Sokol morilecSlovenian
- sokol plenilecSlovenian
- Skifteri i gjuetisëAlbanian
- степски сокоSerbian
- Banatski soko / Банатски сокоSerbian
- Stepski sokoSerbian
- tatarfalkSwedish
- Kozi MadoaSwahili
- Ulu DoğanTurkish
- Өргелээр шаңгырTuvinian
- балабанUkrainian
- СоколиніUkrainian
- 猎隼Chinese
- 獵隼Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the saker 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
CompareSaker falcon vs Peregrine falconSaker falcon vs Common kestrelSaker falcon vs Eurasian hobbySaker falcon vs Merlin
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
Is the saker falcon endangered?
Yes. The saker falcon is listed as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List, which is a threatened category.
How big is a saker falcon?
An adult Saker falcon weighs from 870 g to 1.13 kg, with a representative value of 961.2 g. Its wingspan ranges from 97 cm to 1.26 m.
What does the saker falcon eat?
The saker falcon is a carnivore.
What habitat does the saker falcon live in?
The saker falcon lives in grassland. It is a migratory bird.
How long does a saker falcon live?
Sources give a lifespan of 15.92 years for the saker falcon, with values up to 25 years.
How many eggs does a saker falcon lay?
The saker falcon lays 4 eggs per clutch and has 1 clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 29 days.
What kind of animal is the saker falcon?
The saker falcon is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae and the genus Falco.
Who named the saker falcon?
The saker falcon, Falco cherrug, was named by J. E. Gray, 1834.
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). Saker falcon (Falco cherrug). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/saker-falcon
“Saker falcon (Falco cherrug).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/saker-falcon.
@misc{saker_falcon_2026,
title = {Saker falcon (Falco cherrug)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/saker-falcon},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}