What Is the National Bird of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's national bird is the falcon. Most national symbols references, including Wikipedia's dedicated page on Saudi national symbols, list the falcon in that role. If you want a species-level answer, the Saker falcon (Falco cherrug) is the most commonly cited specific species, and it has deep roots in Saudi falconry culture and documented presence across the Arabian Peninsula.

Why you might see different answers online

This is where the real confusion starts. Search for Saudi Arabia's national bird and you'll find some sources simply saying "falcon," others specifying "Saker falcon," and occasionally other raptor species floating around. None of these are wildly wrong, but they're not all saying the same thing either.

The core issue is that "falcon" is a broad category, not a single species. Saudi Arabia has a rich falconry tradition involving multiple species: the Saker falcon, the Peregrine falcon (sometimes called Shaheen), and others. When national symbols lists say "falcon," they're usually referring to the cultural institution of falconry and the birds associated with it, rather than pinning the label to one exact species. The Saker falcon gets called out most specifically because it's listed on the Wikipedia Saker falcon page as the national bird of Saudi Arabia (among several other countries).

It's also worth knowing that Saudi Arabia doesn't have a single legislative document that formally declares a national bird the way some countries do. The falcon's status as a national symbol is rooted more in cultural heritage and official branding than in a dedicated law. That gap between formal designation and widely accepted symbolism is exactly why different sources frame it differently.

What the falcon means to Saudi Arabia

The falcon isn't just a pretty bird chosen because it looks good on a logo. In Saudi and broader Arab culture, falcons represent nobility, strength, precision, and a deep bond between humans and the natural world. Falconry has been practiced on the Arabian Peninsula for over two thousand years, and for much of that history it wasn't a hobby. It was a survival skill and a mark of status among tribal leaders and ruling families.

That symbolism carries forward into modern Saudi identity. The falcon appears as one of the five core symbols in Saudi Arabia's Founding Day emblem, alongside the Saudi flag, the palm tree, the Arabian horse, and the traditional souq. The Saudi Falcons Club and the Saudi Press Agency have both documented this connection explicitly, describing the falcon as "deeply ingrained in Saudi heritage." When a government's own press agency and official branding guidelines highlight a bird that prominently, it tells you the symbolism is genuine, not just decorative.

In that sense, the falcon ties together Saudi Arabia's past and its present identity. It connects the Kingdom to its Bedouin roots while also projecting an image of precision and power that resonates with modern Saudi self-presentation.

The history behind the choice

Falconry in Saudi Arabia predates the modern state by centuries. Historical accounts link falcon training to the First Saudi State period (established in the mid-18th century), and the Founding Day brand guidelines reference this era specifically when explaining why the falcon was included in the Founding Day visual identity. The tradition runs through Saudi history as a constant thread.

The formal Saudi national emblem was adopted in 1950 and features a palm tree above two crossed swords. The falcon isn't part of that emblem directly, which is one reason some sources are cautious about calling it the "official" national bird. But the Founding Day emblem (which commemorates the founding of the First Saudi State in 1727) was developed more recently as a broader cultural identity framework, and it does explicitly include the falcon. So the selection story is less about a single moment of formal designation and more about the falcon's gradual, consensus-driven elevation to national symbol status through culture, branding, and heritage documentation.

Facts about the Saker falcon worth knowing

If the Saker falcon is the species most tightly linked to Saudi Arabia's national bird identity, it helps to know what you're actually talking about. The Saker (Falco cherrug) is a large falcon, typically 45 to 57 centimeters long with a wingspan that can reach 126 centimeters. The national bird of Iraq is a different species than Saudi Arabia’s Saker falcon Falco cherrug. It's built for speed and power, which is exactly what makes it prized in falconry.

• The Saker falcon is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, largely due to trapping for the falconry trade and habitat loss on its breeding grounds in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
• It's a migratory species, and Saudi Arabia sits along important migration corridors it uses when moving between breeding grounds and wintering areas.
• In the wild, Saker falcons hunt ground squirrels, other small mammals, and birds. Their hunting style, fast stoops and ground-level chases, made them particularly useful for traditional Arab falconry.
• Saudi Arabia is a known wintering and passage ground for the species, which means wild Sakers are genuinely present in the Kingdom, not just culturally claimed.
• UNESCO recognized Arab falconry (including Saudi falconry practice) as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016, a formal international acknowledgment of how central the tradition is to regional identity.
• The Saudi Falcons Club operates breeding and conservation programs, reflecting the Kingdom's active role in protecting these birds beyond their symbolic value.

One thing that makes the Saker falcon a particularly fitting national symbol is this overlap between cultural history and ecological reality. The bird isn't just a symbol plucked from legend. It actually lives in and passes through Saudi Arabia, and Saudis have been working with it in partnership for millennia.

Saudi Arabia vs. its neighbors: a regional pattern

Saudi Arabia is far from alone in honoring falcons. The UAE's deep connection to the falcon is well documented, and the bird holds national symbol status across several Gulf states. If you mean the UAE, you may see the same broader falcon theme, so it helps to look up the specific bird listed for Dubai versus the wider emirate. This is why falcons are also widely treated as the national bird of the UAE The UAE's deep connection to the falcon. Countries like Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman all share elements of this falconry heritage, which makes sense given the shared Bedouin cultural roots across the Arabian Peninsula. If you're curious about another Gulf state, you can also look up what Qatar recognizes as its national bird Countries like Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman. Bahrain is also commonly associated with falcons in national-symbol discussions, even though the species details can vary by source what is the national bird of bahrain. If you're curious about Oman specifically, its national bird is a different species than Saudi Arabia's falcon. For Kuwait, the national bird is also commonly listed as the falcon, reflecting the region's shared falconry traditions. If you're exploring the national birds of the wider Middle East, you'll find the falcon theme recurring throughout the Gulf region in particular, though each country frames it through its own history and specific traditions.

How to verify this for yourself

Because sources disagree on the species level, and because there's no single law you can point to, it's worth knowing where to look if you need to confirm this for a school project, research paper, or just personal certainty.

1. Start with Wikipedia's "National symbols of Saudi Arabia" page. It lists the falcon as the national bird and is a reasonable first-pass reference, though it should be cross-checked.
2. Check Saudipedia (saudipedia.com), the official Saudi encyclopedia. It covers national symbols and has dedicated entries for falconry in Saudi Arabia and the Saker falcon specifically, written from a Saudi institutional perspective.
3. Review the Saudi Founding Day brand guidelines (foundingday.sa). The official PDF explicitly lists the falcon as one of five Founding Day symbols and provides cultural rationale in English.
4. Look at the Saudi Press Agency (spa.gov.sa) for news coverage of Founding Day and falconry heritage. Government press releases are useful for confirming how the Saudi government itself frames the falcon's symbolic role.
5. For species-level verification, the IUCN Red List entry for Falco cherrug and the CMS (Convention on Migratory Species) document on Saker falcons in Saudi Arabia both confirm the species' documented presence and conservation status in the Kingdom.
6. The Aramco "Birds of Saudi Arabia" book series is the primary natural history reference for avifauna in the region if you want habitat and ecology details that go well beyond the symbolism.

No single source will give you a perfectly clean, legally codified answer the way some countries' national bird designations work. But between Saudipedia, the Founding Day guidelines, and Wikipedia's national symbols page, you'll have enough cross-referenced evidence to state confidently that the falcon, most specifically the Saker falcon, is Saudi Arabia's recognized national bird. Many people also ask a similar question for Jordan, where the national bird is the black francolin Jordan national bird.