50 Fun Facts About Peregrine Falcon

The peregrine falcon is famous above all for what?

A crow-sized bird with a blue-grey back and black head, it hunts almost nothing but other birds.

Which sex of peregrine falcon is larger?

That is typical of bird-eating raptors; a female weighing half as much again as her mate is not unusual.

What is the peregrine's historical North American nickname?

In Australia it was the 'black-cheeked falcon'; the American subspecies name anatum literally means 'duck peregrine'.

The peregrine is entirely absent from which major ice-free landmass?

Everywhere else bar the poles, the highest mountains and most rainforests has them, making it the world's most widespread raptor.

Both the English and scientific names of the peregrine mean what?

Peregrinus is Latin for 'one from abroad', probably because young birds were caught while travelling rather than taken from hard-to-reach nests.

How many peregrine subspecies does the IOC World Bird List accept?

The Handbook of the Birds of the World makes it 19 by counting the Barbary falcon as two subspecies rather than a separate species.

Which pesticide was chiefly responsible for the peregrine's collapse in the mid-20th century?

It built up in the birds' fat, thinned their eggshells and stopped eggs surviving to hatch; the eastern US population vanished entirely.

The peregrine's beak is notched near the tip so that it can do what?

The 'tooth' lets falcons finish prey at the neck; hawks and eagles rely on their feet instead.

A 2021 study concluded the black malar stripe under a peregrine's eye serves to do what?

The stripe is bigger in sunnier parts of the world, working like a footballer's eye black.

Who first described Falco peregrinus under its current name, in 1771?

The Latin phrase itself is older, used by Albertus Magnus in 1225.

The Latin 'falco' is related to falx, meaning what?

It describes the silhouette of the long, pointed wings in flight.

Which subspecies is nicknamed the 'Maltese falcon'?

The Mediterranean race ranges from Iberia to the Caucasus, is non-migratory and usually has a rusty wash below.

What is the peregrine's characteristic high-speed hunting dive called?

It climbs high, folds its wings and tail, and hits one wing of its prey so as not to hurt itself on impact.

Small bony tubercles on the peregrine's nostrils are thought to help it do what during a dive?

Without them, the air pressure of a 300 km/h stoop might damage the lungs.

Peregrines protect their eyes during a dive using what?

The 'third eyelids' spread tears and sweep away debris while the bird keeps sight of its target.

What is the peregrine's flicker fusion frequency, a measure of how fast its eyes process images?

That is very fast for a bird its size and much faster than any mammal, which is what you need when the world is rushing past at 300 km/h.

What is the longest known lifespan of a wild peregrine?

Most never get close: 59 to 70% die in their first year, though adult mortality drops to a quarter or a third a year.

In 2005 Ken Franklin recorded a peregrine stooping at what top speed?

Sceptics note that radar has never confirmed such figures, the fastest reliably measured being 184 km/h.

A study of an 'ideal falcon' put the theoretical speed limit for a low-altitude dive at what?

At high altitude, thinner air pushes the ceiling to 625 km/h.

Roughly what fraction of the world's bird species are preyed on by peregrines somewhere?

That is 1,500 to 2,000 species, from 3-gram hummingbirds to 3-kilogram sandhill cranes.

In cities, the rock dove or feral pigeon makes up what share of a peregrine's diet?

Feral pigeons are the only land bird with a wider range than the peregrine, and only because people carried them everywhere.

How does a peregrine usually kill or stun its prey?

It then turns to catch the falling bird; anything too heavy to carry is dropped and eaten on the ground.

Which mammals are the peregrine's most common night-time prey?

City lighting lets peregrines hunt after dark, especially migrating birds and bats of the genera Eptesicus, Myotis and Pipistrellus.

Where does a peregrine normally nest?

The hen scrapes a shallow hollow in soil or gravel; tall buildings and bridges now serve the same purpose.

How many eggs does a peregrine usually lay?

They are white to buff with red-brown markings and hatch after 29 to 33 days, mostly incubated by the hen.

Peregrines defending their nests have killed raptors as large as which birds?

One parent even killed a snowy owl that had taken its fledgling, ambushing it in a full stoop.

The parents' hunting territory can extend how far from the nest?

That is a radius of 12 to 15 miles, which is why a single pair can patrol a whole city.

For roughly how long has the peregrine been used in falconry?

It began with nomads in central Asia; the bird's even temper makes it one of the easier falcons to train.

In falconry, the peregrine's habit of circling above the falconer until game is flushed is called what?

It then delivers the high-speed stoop that falconers prize, striking with a clenched talon like a fist.

During World War II, peregrines were used to intercept what?

Trained falcons were set on message-carrying pigeons; today captive breeding supplies most falconry birds.

Peregrines were removed from the US endangered species list in which year?

The recovery leaned on falconers, the Peregrine Fund and a gradual release method for captive-bred chicks.

What is the technique of releasing captive-bred falcons by feeding them less until they hunt for themselves called?

Feeding is cut back as fledglings gain strength, and once DDT was restricted the released birds bred successfully.

A hybrid of a peregrine and a lanner falcon is called what?

It combines the peregrine's hunting skill with the lanner's hardiness; crosses with a bigger northern falcon are bred for larger game.

Peregrines have adapted to cities by nesting on what?

Artificial light even lets them keep hunting into dusk when it would otherwise be too dark.

Which Egyptian god was often shown with the head of a peregrine falcon under a solar disk?

Most Egyptologists suspect the bird depicted was really a lanner falcon.

In medieval hunting-bird hierarchies, which bird ranked above the peregrine and was linked with kings?

Nobility used peregrines for the hunt; the bigger, whiter gyrfalcon outranked it.

The peregrine falcon is the official city bird of which US city?

It also appears on the 2007 Idaho state quarter and has been Bowling Green State University's mascot since 1927.

A peregrine falcon features on which US state's 2007 quarter?

The peregrine has been the official mascot of Bowling Green State University in Ohio since 1927.

J. A. Baker's classic 1967 book The Peregrine records a winter watching falcons near which English town?

Written as a diary from October to April, it is widely rated among the best nature books of the 20th century.

Suzuki's Hayabusa motorcycle, launched in 1999, takes its name from the Japanese word for what?

Suzuki claimed the top model was then the fastest production motorcycle in the world, so the name fitted.

What is the peregrine's typical wingspan?

Body length runs 34 to 58 cm; the biggest females of the largest subspecies weigh five times the smallest males of the smallest.

Which subspecies, found in the Pacific Northwest and Aleutians, is the largest?

Its coastal birds feed almost entirely on seabirds; F. p. minor of Africa is the smallest, with males of about 300 g.

The Cape Verde subspecies F. p. madens is unusual among peregrines for what?

Males show a rufous wash on crown and back; only six to eight pairs survive.

The pallid falcon of southernmost South America, long thought a separate species, is actually what?

F. p. kreyenborgi is medium grey with little barring and a white ear region.

Peregrines mate for how long?

They reach sexual maturity at one year, though in dense populations most wait until two or three.

What is a male peregrine falcon traditionally called?

The female is simply 'the falcon', and the chicks are eyases.

How long are peregrine eggs incubated?

The female does most of it; the male helps by day but never takes the night shift.

Roughly what share of peregrines die in their first year?

Adult mortality drops to 25 to 32% a year, and the wild record lifespan is just under 20 years.

Which university has had the peregrine falcon as its official mascot since 1927?

The bird is also the official city bird of Chicago and appears on Idaho's 2007 state quarter.

The subspecies F. p. peregrinator of South Asia is better known by what name?

Described by Sundevall in 1837, it was once treated as its own species, Falco shaheen.