This medium-sized falcon has bluish grey wings and upper body, a chestnut red cap with short chin straps passing through the eye.

It appears very similar to the Indian form but has dark barring on the upperparts, a rufous breast band, and black moustachial and eye stripes.

They hunt in pairs mostly at dawn and dusk, capturing small birds, bats and squirrels.

The wings and upper parts are bluish grey and the tail has narrow bars, a broad subterminal black band tipped with white.

The upperparts are pale grey, with black primary wing feathers and the broad tail band.

The species was described on the basis of a specimen obtained by François Levaillant from Chandernagore in Bengal where he was told it went by the name of Chicquera.

[6] Studies of molecular sequence divergence in the cytochrome b gene suggest that the African and Indian forms are distinctive due to separation for as long as 0.9 million years.

[9][13] In Africa, the red-necked falcon is found in semi-desert, savannah and other dry open country with some trees, but also riverine forest.

[3][17][18] It prefers to prey on birds found in open areas and some of the species it has been recorded to hunt are Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus), house sparrow (Passer domesticus), white-browed wagtail (Motacilla madaraspatensis), rosy starling (Sturnus roseus), chestnut-tailed starling (Sturnus malabaricus), Indian cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus), Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus), little ringed plover (Charadrius dubius), ashy-crowned finch-lark (Eremoptrix griseus), besides robins, quails, babblers, swifts, bulbuls, pipits, larks (mainly Calandrella, Alauda, Galerida sp.

), pied cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus), rock dove (Columba livia), collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto), laughing dove (Streptopelia senegelensis), brown crake (Lanius cristatus), tailor bird (Orthotomus sutorius), brown shrike (Lanius cristatus), white-breasted kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis), little stint (Calidris minuta), plain martin (Riparia paludicola) and pied bushchat (Saxicola caprata).

[19] In one study in Bangladesh, adults fed mainly on small sparrow sized birds (72%) and Pipistrellus bats (28%).

In India, the nest is often placed in a large mango tree (Mangifera indica) and concealed inside foliage.

[28] Captive birds can be affected by Newcastle disease virus,[29] as well as many parasites including Trichomonas (in subsp.