Micrastur plumbeus is under very considerable threat from forest clearance.
The plumbeous forest-falcon is a poorly known raptor of the undisturbed closed-canopy lowland and foothill forest of the interior of Colombia and Ecuador. Micrastur plumbeus is restricted to the Pacific slopes of the Andes in south-west Colombia and north-west Ecuador.
Three individuals were mist-netted in the Río ¥ambi Nature Reserve and nearby Patio in 1992, plus one in Los Farallones National Park, Colombia in 1993. In Esmeraldas, Ecuador, three specimens from two sites have been recorded since 1959.
Micrastur plumbeus is considered as "Endangered" by the IUCN Red List. CITES lists the species as "Appendix 2".