Lanner falcon  (Falco biarmicus)

The lanner falcon is widespread and generally common in Africa, even in heavily populated areas, and has a large global population which is thought to be increasing (3) (8). The species may even have benefitted in some areas from bush clearance, the planting of eucalyptus stands, and from increasing numbers of electricity pylons, which provide nesting sites (2) (3) (5). However, although it adapts well to populated areas (3), the lanner falcon is often poisoned or shot, particularly where people hunt larks for sport, and its eggs and chicks are commonly collected for use in falconry (3) (7). It is also threatened by habitat loss, which can reduce its hunting and breeding areas as well as its prey species, and by disturbance at its breeding sites, such as from rock-climbing and intensive tourism (7). The use of pesticides may reduce prey availability and the falcon’s breeding success (2) (7), while the use of organophosphates in the control of locusts and of red-billed quelea may cause poisoning in any birds of prey, such as the lanner falcon, which feed on them (13). The powerlines which often provide the lanner falcon with nesting sites can also carry the threat of electrocution (7) (13).

The lanner falcon is less common in eastern and western Africa, and may have suffered some local declines in South Africa (2) (3). However, it faces its biggest threats in Europe, where its range has contracted and the species has undergone dramatic declines since the 1950s (2) (3) (7). The European breeding population may now number as few as 480 pairs, and the species is classified as Vulnerable on the European IUCN Red List (8). Although a range of conservation measures for the lanner falcon have been adopted in Italy, which hosts a large proportion of the European population, it is thought that only a low proportion of breeding pairs may be found in protected areas here (14).

International trade in the lanner falcon should be carefully regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) (4), and the species is listed on Appendix II of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), which aims to protect migratory species throughout their range (15). The threatened European population of Falco biarmicus feldeggii is also protected under a range of European legislation (7). Conservation priorities for this subspecies include reduction in pesticide use, legal protection of key sites, protecting breeding sites from disturbance, and appropriate habitat management, as well as further scientific research and the promotion of wardening schemes to prevent egg theft and illegal shooting of adult birds (7). Elsewhere, conservation measures include, for example, making powerlines “raptor-friendly”, to prevent electrocutions (13).