Description:

A large, heavily built brown falcon, with long wings and long tail. Adult has paler crown, less distinct moustachial stripe, and pale rufous-brown upperparts; has less heavily marked underparts. Outer tail feathers more prominently barred. Juvenile has greyish cere and greyish legs and feet; otherwise similar to adult.

Distribution:

Vagrant to the western most part of Gilgit-Baltistan, mainly in western tip of Ghizer. Favors arid and semi-arid habitats including grassland, steppe with scattered trees and even open woodland, mainly in foothills and mountains, up to 4000m.

Behavior:

Stoops on birds in air, but most prey caught on ground; watches for prey from vantage points, where may perch for hours. Also performs low foraging flights, looking for prey on ground; occasionally hovers. Mainly feeds on small mammals, particularly rodents. In many areas hamsters, voles, lemmings and other rodents; young marmots and pikas in mountainous areas. Birds generally less important.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Saker Falcon in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Saker Falcon

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.