Oklahoma Migratory Species Profile: Peregrine Falcon

Stooping at a conservative 186 mph, what can possibly escape the clutches of the Peregrine Falcon?

Uncommon in open locales, especially near water, this missile of a bird of prey nests on edges of cliffs as well as within cities upon buildings or bridges.  A solitary speed demon such as this to be reckoned with, the peregrine hunts prey such as small or medium sized birds.  As seen in the video, it also swiftly dispatches what it considers threats to its young, both real and imagined.

DDT and other equally destructive pesticides nearly eradicated the duck hawk in the mid-twentieth century in the US, but the species managed to rebound with the help of captive breeding.

Falconry has been an avid sport for an easy millennia, and the peregrine was always one of the most coveted of prizes.  The only continent devoid of this remarkable species in Antarctica.  It also cares nothing for tropical forests or very high mountains, as its talents are squelched in those ecosystems.
It reaches sexual maturity in one year and healthy populations will breed between the ages of two and three.  A pair mates for life and they return to the same nesting spot each year.  The species is dimorphic, and its markings are unmistakable.

Courtship between a pair is the most acrobatic natural system that one will ever encounter, including dives, spirals, passing food between the two individuals, and the necessity of unparalleled aerial maneuvers to receive the morsel.

Its lineage includes the deadly agility of the Prairie Falcon, where it likely originated in Africa through western Eurasia.  Mitochondrial DNA structures tend to surprise the scientific world, for much of its genetics have allowed study and breeding to creat even stronger birds than it originally was made for.




                    Peregrine Falcon
                 pen and ink drawing
               by Liana Winters Smith
       

The Perilanner combines hardiness with hunting and similar parenting, and then came the Gyrfalcon to produce large and even more strikingly marked birds.  There is even the Perlin, which is a mix with the Merlin.

Peregrines are just as lethal as their own predators, which include the Golden and Bald Eagles.  If these birds come too close to the eyases in the nest, they will usually win the encounter, but they usually prefer to keep their distance unless it is warranted.

                                                              Peregrine Falcon
                                                         Great Salt Plains, 2017