Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus
The Peregrine falcon, whose latin species name peregrinus is tranalated as "wanderer" is one of the most widespread of warm-blooded terestrial animals in the world. It is absent as a breeder in only from the Amazon Basin, the Sahara Desert, Antarctica and most of the steppes of eastern and central Asia. It is among the most admired hunters in the world, kept by royalty for "falconry" in the past, is is a deadly and extremely effective hunter of birds. It at times also feeds on bats and occasionally rodents, it hunts by soaring far above its prey and dropping in what is called a "stoop" at incredible speed to capture its prey. Sometimes it captures the prey near the bottom of the high-speed stoop, and other times it isolates one bird from a flock, gets below it, drives it high into the air from below, then again goes above and dives onto it from above again at high speed. This can be an incredible spectacle to watch. Peregrines are also known to hunt using other techniques such as overtaking prey in direct flight, contour hunting to surprise prey, and even capturing prey from the ground.
I live in the Pacific Northwestern U.S. where Peregrine falcons are found in very high density likely in part due to the large flocks of shorebirds that are present in this area.
Peregrines historically nested in canyons and on cliffs. In modern times they have adapted to our "urban canyons" of high rise buildings, bridges and other man-made structures where they find nesting sites and prey on birds like Rock Pigeons and European Starlings that are present in large numbers.
Two Peregrine chicks are born covered with an off-white down, and by 5 days have doubled in weight from their birth weight of 35-40 grams. This photo is of two young Peregrine Falcons at an urban nest under a highway overpass in Tacoma, WA last spring. See them peeking out of the bottom right of the photo.
Nest boxes and web cameras have been a popular urban attraction in many cities.
In my opinion any day when I see a Peregrine Falcon is better for the experience.
Good birding and good day!
