Located at the crossing of the Piraeus-Chania and Cape Maleas-Izmir shipping lanes, it is considered a significant navigational hazard due to the strong surrounding currents.

At the island's eastern cape, named Panaghia ton revmaton (Παναγιά των Ρευμάτων), meaning "Panagia of the currents", there is a lighthouse that was destroyed by the Germans in 1941 and rebuilt after World War II.

During the Greek Revolution, the island was served as a unification point for Andreas Miaoulis's and Dimitrios Sachtouris's squadrons before the campaign of Milos.

[6] Falkonera is part of the Natura 2000 network with code GR3000011, together with the nearby uninhabited islands of Velopoula and Ananes.

[8] It is one of the few Aegean islands that supports a population of the Milos wall lizard, Podarcis milensis.