MIDDLE EAST:
Some birds are trapped, but the scale of this operation is unknown.
Live birds of unknown provenance are often offered for sale at the
Sharjah soukh and elsewhere and are known to be used for training
purposes. Most birds are trapped in the post-breeding season and are apt
to be juveniles, but this can still pose a significant threat in areas
where local breeding populations are small (Aspinwall 1996).Syria: Even as early as 20 years ago, Baumgart (1984) reported that this species is scarcely recorded in the wild and that its presence was generally confirmed by the falconry trade, which involved several hundred to a thousand falcons annually.
Israel: A few pairs of brookei nested in mountainous areas in northern and central Israel until the mid-20th century, but they were apparently extirpated by pesticides (Shirihai 1996). The last nest found was in Nahal in the Carmel in 1952, and two or three pairs bred in Galilee until the mid-1950s (Vaurie 1965, Mendelssohn 1972). Since then, there have been a few single birds recorded oversummering in various northern and central localities, but no confirmed nesting attempts (Shirihai op cit.).
United Arab Emirates: Regarded as Threatened, with an estimated breeding population of 5-10 pairs (Aspinwall and Hellyer 2006).
NORTHERN SAHEL: Thiollay (2006) saw nearly as many of these falcons during surveys in 2004 as in his earlier ones in the 1970s at Adrar des Iforhas, Mali and south-central Aïr, Niger.
