Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)

Photo: National Wildflife Federation/Merrifield, Virginia

The Peregrine Falcon is the world's fastest diving bird.   The record-setting falcon was once clocked at a speed of 186 miles (300 kilometres) an hour. 

Peregrines are global birds, found on every continent except Antarctica.   They can travel long distances, sometimes between continents, to get from their wintering grounds to their breeding grounds.

North American Peregrine Falcons can be both migratory or non-migratory.   Some live year-round in Alaska, the Midwest, the Northeast, the southwest, and along the western coastline.

It has been my experience to find them nesting here in Aurora, Ontario, 35 kilometres north of Toronto, on Lake Ontario, for the past 4 to 5 years.

With their global range, Peregrine Falcons can be found in many habitats including mountains, forest, cities, valleys, deserts and coast lines.

Peregrines eat mostly other birds, consuming a variety of species

(about 450 North American species have been recorded as prey), and the number worldwide may be as many as 2,000 species.

Falcons nest on cliffs up to 1,300 metres high, and sometimes higher, including along the rim of the Grand Canyon.

Males usually select several possible nesting sites, with the female making the final choice.

Peregrines can live up to 15 years and even longer.

Their total migration routes can stretch from Alaska to southern Argentina and return, wracking up over 20,000 kms. per round trip., second longest of any bird of prey in the western hemisphere.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder