Current status of the Saker Falcon in Russia and Kazakhstan

The range and abundance of Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) in Russia and Kazakhstan are systematically declining. It is no exaggeration to say that the Saker Falcon is by far the most endangered raptor species in the Palaearctic. A compilation of literature data shows the species’ estimated abundance in 1970s Russia was at least 9,000–10,000 pairs (Galushin, 2004; Karyakin, 2008), while it appears over 15,000 pairs nested in Kazakhstan – in the 1990s their abundance there was estimated at 5,218 (4,808–5,628) pairs. In 2003, total abundance in Russia (without Crimea) was estimated at 2,520 (2,115–2,925), and in 2004 there were 2,108–2,915 nesting sites (Karyakin et al., 2005). By 2010, Saker Falcon abundance in Crimea was estimated at 163–181 pairs (Milobog et al., 2010). Between 2004 and 2018, the species completely stopped nesting in the near Volga River area region in the Southern Urals and largely disappeared in Western Siberia lowlands. By 2014, Saker Falcon abundance was estimated to be 1,869 (1,628–2,197) pairs in Russia, and by 2018 1,530–1,925 pairs, of which 1,103–1,216 pairs nested in the Altai-Sayan region (ASR), 185–230 pairs in the Baikal region, 72–264 pairs in Dauria, and 145–184 pairs in the Republic of Crimea (Karyakin et al., 2006; 2011; 2018; Karyakin, Nikolenko, 2015). The most prosperous Russian population of Saker Falcon is in the ASR, where regular monitoring of the species occurs. Their abundance has decreased by 43% over 20 years (Karyakin et al., 2018). If at the end of the 1990s 2,056 (1,962–2,150) pairs were thought to nest in the ASR, by 2019 there were just 1,130 (1,076–1,179) pairs. However, compared to other territories, the species’ situation in the ASR can viewed favorably. On the Crimean Peninsula, the Saker Falcon’s decline in abundance is calculated to range by 4.1 to 17.7% over 5 years by 2015 (Milobog et al., 2010; Karyakin, Nikolenko, 2015). Some small nesting groups of Saker Falcon remain in the Baikal region, where local researchers assess the situation as consistently bad. After equipping 150 km of bird-hazardous power lines with protective devices in Daursky Nature Reserve’s enforcement zone in Transbaikalia, by 2017 species abundance had tripled over the 2010 total (Goroshko, 2018), although in this case we are only talking about a few pairs. In recent years, overwintering Saker Falcons have been regularly encountered in Primorye (O. Katugin, pers. com.), and there is a chance that a breeding group remains in Manch