Sooty falcon
Falco concolor Temminck, 1825
The sooty falcon (Falco concolor) is a species in the family Falconidae, order Falconiformes. Recorded adults weigh 230 g to 325 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Vulnerable.

Quick facts about the sooty falcon
- Weight
- 230 g – 325 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 75 cm – 88 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- rockysrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.4 – 2.75src for Young per litter or clutch
- 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 sooty falcon?
Where does the sooty falcon live?
Not recorded
What is the sooty falcon?
The sooty falcon (Falco concolor) is a medium-sized falcon, breeding from northeastern Africa to the southern Persian Gulf region, and wintering in East Africa (Mozambique, eastern South Africa) and Madagascar.
From the Wikipedia article “Sooty falcon” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sooty_falcon&oldid=1371914262), 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 sooty falcon endangered?
The sooty 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 sooty falcon classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderFalconiformes
- familyFalconidae
- genusFalco
- SpeciesFalco concolor Temminck, 1825
Other names and names in other languages (49)
- RoetvalkAfrikaans
- صقر فاحمArabic
- صقر الغروبArabic
- Тъмен соколBulgarian
- falcó fumatCatalan
- ostříž arabskýCzech
- hebog tywyllWelsh
- SodfalkDanish
- SchieferfalkeGerman
- ΣταχτογέρακοGreek
- fulga falkoEsperanto
- halcón opacoSpanish
- Halcón pizarrosoSpanish
- nõgipistrikEstonian
- شاهین دودیPersian
- nokihaukkaFinnish
- Faucon concoloreFrench
- Fabhcún súicheachIrish
- בז שחורHebrew
- mrki sokolCroatian
- hamvas sólyomHungarian
- kormos sólyomHungarian
- SkuggafálkiIcelandic
- Falco unicoloreItalian
- Falco fuligginosoItalian
- ウスズミハヤブサJapanese
- pilkasis sakalasLithuanian
- pilkšvasis sakalasLithuanian
- tumšais piekūnsLatvian
- FandrasambaryMalagasy
- woestijnvalkDutch
- sokół śniadyPolish
- falcão-sombrioPortuguese
- Falcão-cinzentoPortuguese
- falcão-uniformePortuguese
- серебристый чеглокRussian
- GožufálliNorthern Sami
- sokol bridlicovýSlovak
- sajasti sokolSlovenian
- Čađavi sokoSerbian
- sotfalkSwedish
- gri doganTurkish
- gri doğanTurkish
- İsli doğanTurkish
- підсоколик сірийUkrainian
- Підсоколик задимленийUkrainian
- 煙隼Chinese
- 烟色隼Chinese
- 煙色隼Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the sooty 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
CompareSooty falcon vs Peregrine falconSooty falcon vs Common kestrelSooty falcon vs Eurasian hobbySooty falcon vs Merlin
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the sooty falcon?
An adult sooty falcon weighs 230 g – 325 g and has a wingspan of 75 cm – 88 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the sooty falcon endangered?
The sooty falcon is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
What kind of animal is the sooty falcon?
The sooty falcon (Falco concolor) 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).
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). Sooty falcon (Falco concolor). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/sooty-falcon
“Sooty falcon (Falco concolor).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/sooty-falcon.
@misc{sooty_falcon_2026,
title = {Sooty falcon (Falco concolor)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/sooty-falcon},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}