Welcome to Speedstars of the planet. This is the first part of a three part series where we will be looking at animals with exeptional speed and how they are adapted to achieve it.
When you think about speed when hunting, the first animal to come to mind is the cheetah. Yes, the cheetah is the fastest land animal but up in the sky resides a more formidable hunter. One that its prey doesn’t even see it coming, it attacks from above diving at 200 miles per hour and giving a near impossible chance for its prey to even see it. What animal am I talking about, The Peregrine Falcon.
CLASSIFICATION
Common Name: Peregrine Falcon
Scientific Name: Falco peregrinus
Type: Birds
Diet: Carnivore
Average life span in The Wild: Up to 17 years
Size: Body: 14 to 19 inches; wingspan: 3.3 to 3.6 feet
Weight: 18.8 to 56.5 ounces\ 0.5 kg to 1.6 kg
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern
Here are some fun facts before we begin.
People have trained falcons for hunting for over a thousand years.
They have excellent binocular vision, eight times better than that of a human
The Peregrine Falcon was always one of the most prized birds.
There adaptations for flying at high speeds influenced the design of jet engines.
Peregrine falcons are one of the largest and most powerful species of falcon. They have long, bluntly pointed wings and a relatively short tail, with dark blue wings and head. Their pale breast is spotted, and the undersides of their wings are barred with dark stripes. The crown of the head is dark, and they have a black ‘moustache’ which gives them a hooded expression.
Birds are usually classified into three groups chicks, juveniles and adults for identification purposes. Below are pictures of a juvenile and Adult peregrine falcon. (picture 1, shows a juvenile: picture 2, shows an adult). Note the difference in colour.
They are about 66 species of Falcons around the world, the peregrine falcon being one of them. Falcons are divided into three groups.
The first contains the kestrels. Kestrels feed chiefly on terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates of appropriate size, such as rodents, reptiles, or insects.
The second group contains slightly larger (on average) and more elegant species, the hobbies and relatives. These birds are characterized by considerable amounts of dark slaty grey in their plumage; the malar area is nearly always black. They feed mainly on smaller birds.
malar region: The area of the sides of a bird's head, behind and below the eyes. Chin area) Third are the Peregrine Falcon and its relatives: large powerful birds which also have a black malar
Habitat
Peregrine falcons are among the world's most common birds of prey and live on all continents except Antarctica. They prefer wide-open spaces, and thrive near coasts where shorebirds are common, but they can be found everywhere from tundra to deserts. Peregrines are even known to live on bridges and skyscrapers in major cities.
Behaviour
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.
That is as fast as a pagani huarya and even faster than some super cars.
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. They then catch the bird and bite through the neck to kill it. This all happens in a matter of seconds.
Peregrine falcons have many adaptations for hunting.
Their nostrils, for example, guide shock waves of air to stop the high pressure damaging their lungs while they dive. A natural design so fascinating, it inspired the design of the first jet engines!
They have excellent binocular vision, eight times better than that of a human. They can see prey from more than 3 km away. They have a third eyelid, which spreads tears and clears debris away to protect their eyes without obstructing their vision during a stoop.
Peregrines can see most clearly with their head turned at an angle, which is why peregrine falcons usually fly towards their prey in a curve – this also helps them fly faster, as it reduces drag.
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. It just goes to show how in the animal planet the hunter can become the hunted.
Nesting and Migration
These birds may travel widely outside the nesting season—their name means "wanderer." Though some individuals are permanent residents, many migrate. Those that nest on Arctic tundra and winter in South America fly as many as 15,500 miles in a year. Yet they have an incredible homing instinct that leads them back to favored areas. Some nesting sites have been in continuous use for hundreds of years, occupied by successive generations of falcons.
Population Rebound
In the first half of the twentieth century, peregrine falcons were heavily persecuted by gamekeepers and landowners, who were concerned about their stocks of game-birds. During the Second World War, thousands of peregrine falcons were also killed to protect the messenger pigeons carrying important military messages. Their numbers began to recover, and new legislation in 1955 outlawed their killing.
However, soon after this law was introduced, numbers of peregrine falcons and many other birds of prey suddenly began to plummet. Scientists eventually discovered that the culprit was agricultural pesticides including organochloride chemicals such as DDT. Prey species eat the pesticides along with their food and pass them onto peregrine falcons and other predators when they get eaten themselves. DDT causes the shells of peregrine eggs to become so thin that they brake during incubation so few babies survive.
DDT was first banned in Hungary in 1968 with many countries following their lead. The US banned it in 1972 but it took the UK until 1984 to ban it.
The birds have rebounded strongly since the use of DDT and other chemical pesticides was curtailed. Captive breeding programs have also helped to boost the bird's numbers. Now populations are strong in some parts of the globe, there actually may be more peregrines than existed before the 20th-century decline. They are now classified as least concern by the IUCN.
Stay tuned as we explore more on the speed kings of nature.
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Credits
Lutmerding, J. A. and A. S. Love. (2019). Longevity records of North American birds. Version 1019 Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Bird Banding Laboratory 2019.
Partners in Flight (2017). Avian Conservation Assessment Database. 2017.
Sauer, J. R., D. K. Niven, J. E. Hines, D. J. Ziolkowski Jr., K. L. Pardieck, J. E. Fallon, and W. A. Link (2017). The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966–2015. Version 2.07.2017. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD, USA.
Sibley, D. A. (2014). The Sibley Guide to Birds, second edition. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, USA.
White, Clayton M., Nancy J. Clum, Tom J. Cade and W. Grainger Hunt. (2002). Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (P. G. Rodewald, editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA.
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