Falcons
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"A Falcon is a perfect hunter." -Jean Craighead George
They are known as "the king's provider," and well dear readers...
Falcons are pretty cool. And Frightful is unquestionably one of the best parts of our story.
In Our Story
Seeing a peregrine falcon soaring above, Sam is inspired to become a falconer to ensure a consistent meat supply.
Sam is resolved to find a falcon, a type of bird that would be useful for hunting. He heads to the library, and with the help of Miss Turner, gets the information that he needs about the birds.
Returning to his mountain, Sam sets about to catch his dinner and then settles in for the night. The next morning, Sam notices a hawk circling a nearby cliff. He climbs up and finds what he wanted, three young hawks. Suddenly, Sam feels a pain in his back; the mother hawk has returned and is not happy about Sam intruding on her young!
Carefully, Sam grabs one of the baby birds, heads down the cliff, and cleans up his wounds. He names the bird Frightful, in recognition of the fact that obtaining her was a frightful experience.
Frightful becomes a magnificent bird and an accomplished hunter, and Sam has soon added rabbit and pheasant to his standard diet as well as the loyal companionship of a wild raptor. I would argue that the company and companionship that Frightful provides for Sam is her most important offering and attribute.
Info
Yesss.... Falcons!!
Powerful and fast-flying, the Peregrine Falcon hunts medium-sized birds, dropping down on them from high above in a spectacular stoop. They /.virtually eradicated from eastern North America by pesticide poisoning in the middle 20th century. After significant recovery efforts, Peregrine Falcons have made an incredible rebound and are now regularly seen in many large cities and coastal areas.
Wingspan
3'2"-3'10"
Length
1'2"-1'6"
W-L ratio
2.5:1
Weight
1-1.5 lbs
Field marks: Stocky, crow-sized falcon, with long, pointed wings, a medium-length tail, and prominent dark sideburns. Adults are bluish-gray above, and light below; juveniles brownish above and light underneath with dark streaking.
Flight behavior: Solitary migrant. Occasionally soars, but usually flaps and glides while migrating. Strong, direct flight. Often migrates on strong “cold-front” winds.
The Peregrine Falcon is a long-winged, medium-sized falcon. Adult peregrines have bluish-gray upperparts and a blackish head. The species has dark mustachial marks on the sides of its face, whitish cheeks, whitish or buffy underparts with black spotting or bars, and gray or black barring on the undersides of its wings and tail. Young peregrines look similar to adults except that their upperparts are slate-colored to chocolate-brown and their underparts are buffy with black streaks. Female peregrines are 15-20% larger and 40-60% heavier than males.
Peregrine falcons have many special features that allow them to fly so quickly. From very light, hollow bones and streamlined feathers to curved wings and strong chest muscles, peregrine falcons were built for speed.
Cool Facts
People have trained falcons for hunting for over a thousand years, and the Peregrine Falcon was always one of the most prized birds. Efforts to breed the Peregrine in captivity and reestablish populations depleted during the DDT years were greatly assisted by the existence of methods of handling captive falcons developed by falconers.
The Peregrine Falcon is a very fast flier, averaging 40-55 km/h (25-34 mph) in traveling flight, and reaching speeds up to 112 km/h (69 mph) in direct pursuit of prey. During its spectacular hunting stoop from heights of over 1 km (0.62 mi), the peregrine may reach speeds of 320 km/h (200 mph) as it drops toward its prey.
The Peregrine Falcon is one of the most widespread birds in the world. It is found on all continents except Antarctica, and on many oceanic islands.
The oldest recorded Peregrine Falcon was at least 19 years, 9 months old, when it was identified by its band in Minnesota in 2012, the same state where it had been banded in 1992.
Food
Peregrine Falcons eat mostly birds, of an enormous variety—450 North American species have been documented as prey, and the number worldwide may be as many as 2,000 species. They have been observed killing birds as large as a Sandhill Crane, as small as a hummingbird, and as elusive as a White-throated Swift.
Typical prey include shorebirds, ptarmigan, ducks, grebes, gulls, storm-petrels, pigeons, and songbirds including jays, thrushes, longspurs, buntings, larks, waxwings, and starlings. Peregrine Falcons also eat substantial numbers of bats. They occasionally pirate prey, including fish and rodents, from other raptors.
Habitat
The word "peregrine" means "wanderer" or "pilgrim," and Peregrine Falcons occur all over the world. In North America they breed in open landscapes with cliffs for nest sites. They can be found nesting at elevations up to about 12,000 feet, as well as along rivers and coastlines or in cities, where the local Rock Pigeon populations offer a reliable food supply. In migration and winter you can find Peregrine Falcons in nearly any open habitat, but with a greater likelihood along barrier islands, mudflats, coastlines, lake edges, and mountain chains.
The species also nests in tree cavities and in the stick nests of other species, on the ground, and on manmade structures. Historically, peregrines were known to nest on old buildings in small towns, but few were observed in urban environments. This changed during the Peregrine Falcon’s reintroduction as individuals were raised and released into cities. Today, peregrines breed in many major urban areas that provide tall buildings for nest sites and ample pigeons and rats to feed upon. In 2000, there were 14 pairs of Peregrine Falcons breeding in New York City.
Nesting
Typically, Peregrine Falcons nest on cliffs from about 25–1,300 feet high (and higher, including on the rim of the Grand Canyon). On these cliffs they choose a ledge that is typically around a third of the way down the cliff face. Other sites include electricity transmission towers, quarries, silos, skyscrapers, churches, and bridges. In places without cliffs, Peregrines may use abandoned Common Raven, Bald Eagle, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, or cormorant nests. In the Pacific Northwest they may nest among or under Sitka spruce tree roots on steep slopes.
Peregrines lay their eggs in a nest depression called a “scrape.” To make the nest scrape, a falcon pushes its feet backward while lying on its breast to create a small depression in the substrate. Peregrines build scrapes not only on ledges, but also when using the nests of other birds. No material is added to the scrape. Usually the male begins constructing the scrape, but sometimes both males and females are involved in the modest construction process. In some cases the male prepares several scrapes on the same ledge or on nearby ledges.
Males typically select a few possible nest ledges at the beginning of each season and the female chooses from these. The birds do no nest building beyond a ritualized scraping of the nest ledge to create a depression in the sand, gravel or other substrate of the nest site. Scrapes are about 9 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep.
Skydivers
Peregrine Falcons are very strong fliers and often reported to be the fastest bird in the world. Their average cruising flight speed is 24 to 33 mph, increasing to 67 mph when in pursuit of prey. When stooping, or dropping on prey with their wings closed, it's been calculated that Peregrine Falcons can achieve speeds of 238 mph.
To put that into perspective, a cheetah can regularly reach speeds up to 70 mph (112 km/h) and a greyhound can reach 45 mph (72 km/h).
One researcher studied trained Peregrine Falcons while skydiving and described their body position while diving at 150 mph and 200 mph. When hunting, Peregrines start by watching from a high perch or by flapping slowly or soaring at great height. Stoops begin 300–3,000 feet above their prey and end either by grabbing the prey or by striking it with the feet hard enough to stun or kill it. 98
They then catch the bird and bite through the neck to kill it. Peregrine Falcons do have other hunting methods, including level pursuit, picking birds out of large flocks, and occasionally even hunting on the ground. Though the Peregrine Falcon is an elite predator, it does have its own predators, including Gyrfalcons, eagles, Great Horned owls, and other Peregrines.
Migration
The Peregrine Falcon has one of the longest migrations of any North American bird. Tundra-nesting falcons winter in South America, and may move 25,000 km (15,500 mi) in a year. Despite sometimes traveling long distances, peregrine falcons have an amazing ability to return to their favorite spots year after year. Scientists believe some popular nesting sites have been used continuously for hundreds of years by successive generations of peregrine falcons.
Peregrines are widespread on migration. Although migration begins across a broad front, clearly defined routes eventually become evident and the species often concentrates along leading lines. Individuals exhibit fidelity to specific flyways and typically follow the same route year after year. In eastern North America, the outbound and return routes of some individuals follow an elliptical path in which individuals travel south along the East Coast and return north along the Gulf Coast.
Unlike many other raptors, peregrines are not averse to crossing large bodies of water and often are seen along coastlines not so much in avoidance of water, but rather because the coastlines serve as prime hunting areas. Peregrine Falcons regularly cross the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. On their spring migration, many peregrines en route to eastern North America stopover at Padre Island on the Gulf Coast of Texas, which is an important shorebird stopover site.
Some peregrines are long-distance migrants that make one-way journeys of up to 13,000 km. Northern tundra breeders in Greenland and Canada, for example, travel as far south as central Argentina and Chile. Almost all the individuals from tundra and boreal populations migrate, whereas more southerly populations are partially migratory.
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