Peregrine Falcon

Title

Peregrine Falcon

Artist

LeeAnn McLaneGoetz McLaneGoetzStudioLLCcom

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

The Peregrine Falcon historically as the "Duck Hawk" in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache". Typical of bird-eating raptors, Peregrine Falcons are sexually dimorphic, with females being considerably larger than males,one of the few vertebrate animal species with larger females. The Peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching speeds of over 325 km/h (202 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop,making it the fastest member of the animal kingdom.

The Peregrine's breeding range includes land regions from the Arctic tundra to the tropics. It can be found nearly everywhere on Earth, except extreme polar regions, very high mountains, and most tropical rainforests; the only major ice-free landmass from which it is entirely absent is New Zealand. This makes it the world's most widespread bird of prey.Both the English and scientific names of this species mean "wandering falcon", referring to the migratory habits of many northern populations.
While its diet consists almost exclusively of medium-sized birds, the Peregrine will occasionally hunt small mammals, small reptiles, or even insects. Reaching sexual maturity at one year, it mates for life and nests in a scrape, normally on cliff edges or, in recent times, on tall human-made structures. The Peregrine Falcon became an endangered species in many areas because of pesticides, especially DDT. Since the ban on DDT from the early 1970s, populations have recovered, supported by large-scale protection of nesting places and releases to the wild.

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July 12th, 2011

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