We are starting a project to study and conserve the Red-Footed Falcon in Ereimentau
In May 2024, the BRCC team will launch a project to study the status of the Red-Footed Falcon population in and around Buiratau National Park in order to establish its current abundance and develop measures to restore it.
The Red-Footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus) inhabits steppe and forest-steppe zones, in landscapes where groves and floodplain forests alternate with open spaces. It nests in sparse colonies or in separate pairs. The nest is built on a deciduous (rarely coniferous) tree; old nests of crows, magpies, and rooks are often used.
The Red-Footed Falcon is listed as Vulnerable (VU) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The main threats to it in Kazakhstan are the lack of nesting sites, habitat destruction due to forest fires, pesticide use in agriculture and electrocution on 6-10 kV overhead power lines (OPLs), whose poles the birds often use as roosts.
Red-Footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus). Photo by N. Ongarbayev
The project includes a trip to the Ereimentau area, where 7 nesting sites were identified in 2007. In May, our team will re-survey these sites and search for new nesting sites and locations suitable for nesting of passerines. Up-to-date data on the numbers of Red-Footed Falcon will help us in the future to develop a scheme of artificial nesting sites to attract Pintail and fill the nest deficit.
The project is being carried out with funds from a small grant awarded by «The Ornithological Society of the Middle East» (OSME)
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