Peregrine+Falcon+in+the+San+Juans

The Peregrine Falcon, **//Falco peregrinus,//** is known as the fastest animal in the world because it can reach speeds of 200 mph easily. It is the size of a crow, with pointed wings (shown in the picture below), it has a blue-grey back with a white underbelly that has bands of brown or black, a long narrow tail, and a black head. The body length of a Peregrine falcon is 13-23 inches with a wingspan almost double that of 31-47 inches (about 3-4 feet long) giving it it's unique aerodynamics. The female falcon is about 30% bigger than the male falcon and after one year the falcon becomes fully mature and mates for life with a the opposite sex, nesting on cliff edges or tall man made structures. The Peregrine Falcon hunts at dawn and dusk when they can catch their prey most easily except in cities, in which case they prefer to hunt at night when it's the most quiet and they generally eat medium sized birds, bats, small reptiles, insects, and some small mammals but tend to stick mostly to birds. This falcon can be found anywhere on Earth except polar regions, high mountains, and tropical jungles, and they tend to migrate all over the world. We would recognize seeing them along mountain ranges, coastlines, river valleys, and even in cities especially during the harsh winters when the falcons become residents. These falcons can live up to 15.5 years but have a high mortality (death) rate among the young, and are usually killed by large eagles or owls. Peregrine falcons don't usually start to reproduce until 2 years after they've matured and impress their "spouse" by doing spirals, and dive bombs mid-air, along with the male passing his food to the female in mid-air. The Peregrine becomes very territorial during mating season because they want their eggs to hatch and their women to stay satisfied. The female chooses her nesting site, lays usually 3-4 eggs (from February to March in the northern hemisphere and August to July in the southern hemisphere), and incubates them for a little over a month until they hatch. After the new chicks are born the male brings food to the female to feed herself and the chicks because the mother Peregrine stays with the babies for about 2 months until they finally fledge and fly on their own out of the nest, just like the baby we saw the day we went whale watching in the San Juans had done.



For more information check out this site: [|Peregrine Falcon; wikipedia.org] Written by: Aundrea