The Amur Falcon is a small raptor that belongs to the falcon family. It breeds in northern China, Mongolia and Siberia and then goes through Asia to southern Africa to winter. It is known that it flies about 15-20,000km during its migration.

On that long journey, the Amur falcon stops on the Korean Peninsula in mid-October. But when it flies back to its breeding grounds, it doesn’t visit Korea.

The Amur Falcon eats dragonflies as its main prey, sometimes eating locusts as well. It has a habit of sitting on electric wires above large rice fields where it can gaze over a large area to hunt.

Recently many electrical poles have disappeared near rice fields, making it very difficult to see the Amur falcon.

About 6-7 years ago, around 300 Amur falcons were found in Korea each year, but only about 100 are observed nowadays. They are classified as an endangered species class 2 in South Korea by the Korea Ministry of Environment and are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In South Korea, they can be seen around the Paju Gongneung stream, Gimpo Daejang-dong, and Ganghwa island Bunoridondae.

(* Seen in the lower part is the Amur Falcon's poop.)