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Red-footed Falcons are small birds of prey. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. Except for a rusty vent, the entire underparts of male Red-footed Falcons are bluish-grey. The upperwings are darker bluish-grey than the body, with silvery-grey streaks on the primaries. The underwings are also bluish-grey, the underwing coverts being darker than the flight feathers. The eyes have rusty eye-rings and the base of the bill is also rusty, while the tip is dark-grey. The irises are dark. Legs and feet are orange-red, with dark talons. Female Red-footed Falcons have a rufuous-buff top of the head and front. Down the front they show sparse dark streaking. They have near-black eye-stripes and tear drops, with the lower parts of the sides of the neck and the chin being white. The back is blue-grey, with darker blue-grey scalloping. The underwing coverts are the same rufous-buff colour as the front; the flight feathers are barred grey with darker blue-grey. Legs, feet and the base of the bill are orange, while the tip of the bill is dark-grey. Juveniles have a brown top of the head, brown back with dark-grey centres of the feathers and, apart from a dark facial mask, buff sides of the head and front, where the front is heavily streaked dark-brown. The lower part of the sides of the head is white. The bill is yellowish-grey, with a dark-grey tip. Their legs and feet are yellowish-grey.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Red-footed Falcon is available HERE .

Red-footed Falcons are a migratory species of falcon. Their breeding range extends from south-eastern Europe to central Asia. They overwinter mostly in southern Africa and the East-African highlands. Most Red-footed Falcons migrate via the eastern Mediterranean and Arabia.

In Europe Red-footed Falcons are summer breeding migrants to south-eastern and far-eastern Europe. Their breeding range in Europe extends from the Balkans to northward of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, up to the geographical latitude of the southern part of Finland. During the time of dispersal they regularly reach central Europe, sometimes even western Europe, where however they do not stay.

Red-footed Falcons usually nest colonially in stands of trees in open country such as steppe or meadows, often also near rivers. They often reuse corvids' nests and may even nest together with Rooks.

A. Sarok reports spotting Red-footed Falcons in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.

In October 2025, C. Pears found at least one, possibly three, Red-footed Falcons along the prominent rockface at Lake Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece.