Poor nesting season puts red-footed falcon on brink of extinction

Slovakia's most precious bird of prey, the red-footed falcon, is on the brink of extinction in the country, as a single pair successfully reared their young this nesting season, TASR has learnt from the 'Raptor Protection of Slovakia' (RPS) organisation. Meanwhile, three productive couples were recorded in last year's nesting season. Conservationists are attributing the unfavourable developments during this year's nesting season, which is drawing to a close, to a lack of insects. "The red-footed falcon as a species is facing an imminent danger of extinction in Slovakia. Developments in the number of couples rearing their young illustrate just how alarming the situation is. While some 60-80 couples nested in Slovakia between 1995-2000, there was zero nesting success in 2012, and only a single nesting was successful in 2013. Last year took a positive spin, as 11 young flew out of three nests", said RPS head Jozef Chavko. Things started off well this year, too, as initially five nesting territories with six males and five females were formed. Due to probably a lack of food, however, the nesting areas later dispersed. A revival of red-footed falcons in Slovakia is also being pursued by an EU-backed project on which RPS has been working in conjunction with Hungarian peers since 2012. There are now around 1,350 red-footed falcon pairs in Hungary, with conservationists believing that Slovakia's population of the birds will draw some benefit from the positive developments in Hungary.