THE FALCON

(Peregrine)

BY GRANT LIVINGSTONE

OverviewIn my presentation today I am going to be talking about a certain breed of falcon called the Peregrine falcon, but may refer to it as just a falcon throughout the presentation. A Falcon is any species of raptor in the genus falco, and it’s fossil records go back almost 10 million years. These fossils have been located throughout North America and North Africa. In the past 100 years, sightings of this bird of prey stretch from the arctic tundra to the tropics. This organism is the definition of a predator and and will remain that way for some time to come.

How it became…Falcon

Above is a picture of what scientist believe to be the early stages of the Falcon. If you noticed that this picture resembles a velociraptor…you’re right. Believe it or not what we refer to today as birds were at one point a long time ago land bound animals.

The picture above is what scientist believe to be an accurate depiction of how birds came to be.

Where To Find Falcons

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.

Peregrine Falcon range.

AttributesCan see a 10cm object 1.5k away. (Helbig)

The speed of a peregrine has been said to reach 175 miles per hour or more. Experiments conducted by scientists put the bird's diving speed at approximately 82 miles per hour and level flight at approximately 62 miles per hour.(Helbig)

Falcon’s (specifically peregrine’s) are at the top of their food chain, so this bird of prey has no known serious predator.

AdaptationOne of the Falcons major adaptation over

many years was it’s eye sight. As I said earlier a Falcon is expected to see a 10cm target clear as day from up to 1.5 kilometers away. (Mlíkovský)

Over millions of years scientist believe that the talons of all spices of Falcons have shrunk considerably mostly because of the habitats they are now living in. (most live in high up places such as trees, mountains., etc… as apposed to nesting on the ground like their Jurassic ancestors once did.) They are still very effective none the less. (Mlíkovský)

BreedingThe average Peregrine Falcon reached

sexual maturity at the age of two. Like humans, Falcons mate for life. Although the mates may not live with each other the entire year they always come back to the same spot to mate annually. A Falcons mating rituals consist of ariel acrobatics and hunting skills. The bigger the prey caught the better. (size matters). Once the eggs have been laid it takes on average 28-34 days for the eggs to hatch. At that point the newborns will stay with their parents for 2-3 months then they are on their own.

Falcons Endangered

The major reason why the world was starting to see fewer and fewer of these animals was because of the pestiside DDT. The pesticide was responsible for the death of 1,000’s of baby chicks. It killed them before they had a chance to hatch. DDT would prevent the mother peregrine's body from producing the calcium carbonate needed to make the egg shells strong. When this happened the eyases would overheat and die. Often the egg shells would crack before the chick was developed enough to survive outside the egg. (Helbig)

CitationsMlíkovský, Jirí (2002): Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe.

Ninox Press, Prague.

Helbig, A.J.; Seibold, I.; Bednarek, W.; Brüning, H.; Gaucher, P.; Ristow, D.; Scharlau, W.; Schmidl, D. & Wink, Michael (1994): Phylogenetic relationships among falcon species (genus Falco) according to DNA sequence variation of the cytochrome b gene. In: Meyburg, B.-U. & Chancellor, R.D. (eds.): Raptor conservation today: 593-599.

Wink, Michael & Sauer-Gürth, Hedi (2000): Advances in the molecular systematics of African raptors. In: Chancellor, R.D. & Meyburg, B.-U. (eds): Raptors at Risk: 135-147. WWGBP/Hancock House, Berlin/Blaine.