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FALCOPOLIS is the name given to the world’s largest communal roosting site for birds of prey, recently discovered by Hungarian scientist and featured in National Geographic Magazine in 2024. Red-footed falcon, known for their social behaviour, breed in colonies in the Eurasian steppe region and gather in communal roosts at night during migration and wintering in Africa. Each evening the sky above the roost site is fully covered by falcons, surpassing previous estimates of the species’ global population. FALCOPOLIS is a unique natural phenomenon in Angola, where up to 1 million Red-footed falcon congregate each March.
FALCOPOLIS is situated in Huambo Province, in central Angola. This area provides ideal conditions for the falcons, including tall trees for roosting and abundance of termites for feeding.
The Red-Footed falcon arrive at FALCOPOLIS every March, coinciding with the peak of the termite swarming season in central Angola. These termites are a crucial food source for the falcons, helping them build up the fat reserves needed for their northward migration.
Such high aggregation of individuals of a single species makes them very vulnerable to threats. The survival of the entire world population of the Red-footed falcon - listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List - depends on the wellbeing of FALCOPOLIS. Threats as poaching, tree cutting and bushfire are real, and it is our responsibility to protect this unique place on Planet Earth!