The Peregrine Falcon - Bird of Kings

By Al Lowe
Contributor

This is one of the fastest birds in the world. And it is a bird of the world, too. It breeds almost everywhere except the Antarctic, New Zealand and Iceland. In North America, there are three major races of this very fast falcon. The one we have is a fairly dark one, and is found in most of North America below the tree line. There is a smaller, paler race in the Arctic, and a larger, darker race on the Pacific Coast.
The Peregrine Falcon looks as though it is built for speed - and it is. A narrow body, sharply pointed wings and solid, compact plumage, all make for a bird which depends on speed for a living. Its colour is quite distinct too. Slaty-blue head, back and wings, and especially prominent black 'sideburns', are the clear marking of this hawk. It is a fairly good size, about that of a crow, with the female being a bit bigger than the male bird.
The old name for this bird was 'Duck Hawk', and that a was a pretty good name, too. It feeds almost entirely on birds, and it catches them all in flight. It hunts in open areas. Its speed in level flight is greater than that of most birds, so in straight pursuit, it can catch almost anything, But its favourite method of hunting is to dive from above. (You old veteran RCAF fighter pilots will recognize this method of attack). In a dive (called a 'stoop' by falconers) it can reach a speed of upward of 200 miles an hour, far faster than any other bird. It hits its victim with partly closed feet. If the bird is small, like a robin, it will carry it off. But if it is large, like a duck, it will let it fall, and then go down to the ground to eat it. It is a true predator, living almost entirely on fresh-killed prey.
After the Second World War, a large number of new-style pesticides appeared, among the DDT. These were ideal for killing insects, but they had some awful effects on other animals. Insects, killed by DDT, were eaten by frogs, small birds and animals, and so on. These in turn were eaten by bigger animals and birds. But the DDT kept accumulating. The higher up the food chain, the more DDT was taken in. People began to see, at the very top of the food chain, that the birds of prey were dying off, or they were unable to reproduce. Eggs were not laid, or else they had such thin shells that they all broke. Many of you will remember the furore over the near-disappearance of the Bald Eagle and the Osprey.
Well, the Peregrine was one of these top predators, and it became a sort of symbol of what was happening in the world of wildlife. As a result, a lot of people became very active in restoring this noble-looking bird. In particular, Cornell University, in New York, began to raise these hawks in 1970. Many other joined in the program since. Peregrines have been released all along the east coast, in Isle Royale (Lake Superior), and in almost all major cities in North America. City officials are always delighted to have them because, in the city, the diet of Peregrines is just about 100% pigeons. They have been re-introduced into many, many places in Europe and the Middle East. They are making a good comeback now, but they never were, and never will be very common.
The Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus, really deserves our help anyway. After all, he has been highly prized for nearly 5000 years, he was worshipped as a god in ancient Egypt, and he is certainly the 'Billy Bishop' of the bird world.