21 Top Amazing and Interesting Facts About Falcons
1. Of all the falcons in its family, the peregrine falcon is the biggest and unquestionably the best hunter. It uses its incredible eyesight to scour the area for prey as it hunts in untamed uplands and along rocky shores. A raptor or bird of prey is the peregrine falcon. Adults have white faces with a black tear line on their cheeks, dark brown backs, buff-colored undersides, and blue-gray wings.
2. Peregrine falcon’s name comes from the Latin word peregrinus, which means “to wander.”
3. Falcons are part of the world’s most common birds of prey and live on all continents except Antarctica.
4. Peregrine Falcons were virtually eradicated from eastern North America by pesticide poisoning in the middle 20th century.
5. After significant recovery efforts, the Peregrine Falcon population is increasing. There are about 2,000 breeding pairs in the United States and Canada.
6. Their eyes are bigger and huge than human eyes and they can spot prey on the ground from a great height of 300m.
7. Amazingly falcons can keep track of three moving objects at the same time.
8. Soaring through the sky on broad, pointed wings, the streamlined peregrine falcon is a most impressive sight as it hunts down little birds. The force and impact of its breathtaking ‘stoop’, a sheer, high-speed dive is often enough to kill a victim outright while still in the air.
9. The quickest and most effective animal in the world is the peregrine falcon. In a "stoop," they can reach speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. Their top speed was measured at 242 kilometers per hour by a researcher. Only 20% of the high-speed dives made by falcons result in a successful kill, according to a BBC documentary film.
10. The air pressure from a 200 miles/hr dive could possibly damage a bird’s lungs, but small bony tubercles on a Peregrine Falcon’s nostrils guide the powerful airflow away from the nostrils, helping the bird to breathe more easily.
11. The falcon’s prey is struck in one wing so the falcon does not injure itself. It then captures the prey in mid-air; the Peregrine Falcon attacks its prey with a clenched foot, stunning or killing it with the impact. If its prey is too heavy to carry, the Peregrine will drop it to the ground and eat it there.
12. The Peregrine Falcon’s upper beak is notched near the tip, an adaptation that enables falcons to kill prey by severing the spinal column at the neck.
13. The peregrine’s courtship involves the male passing food to the female, often when in flight. To make this maneuver possible, the female will roll over when flying to take the given food from his talons.
14. Peregrine falcon chicks mature quickly. They have tremendous appetites and multiply their weight in just around 6 days. At about three weeks of age, they are already around 10 times their size at birth.
15. The male peregrine is called a ‘tiercel’ because it is a tierce (one-third) smaller in size than the female.
16. Falcons that nest on Arctic tundra and winter in South America fly as many as 15,500 miles in a year. The amazing fact is that peregrines will often return to the same nest each year.
17. The life span of falcons in the wild is up to 15 years.
18. In the UK the peregrine falcon can be spotted in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, in the Lake District, Devon, Cornwall, Wales, and Ireland. Many of the falcons seen wintering in Britain will have come across the North Sea from Scandinavia.
19. During the Second World War peregrines were deliberately shot down in case they caught a pigeon that was carrying messages.
20. Today, the main predator of the peregrine is chemical pollutants, which they ingest from their prey and are highly sensitive to. The introduction of pesticides such as DDT lead numbers in Britain declined considerably. These poisons do not break down in the environment and society. Instead, they build up in the food chain and are invariably consumed in great amounts by birds like falcons. Gamekeepers who killed peregrine falcons to protect grouse were another reason for the species demise. Collectors value their expensive valued eggs as well.
21. In Britain, the peregrine falcon is a specially protected bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Volunteers could also be assigned to watch over certain birds that are nesting in delicate regions. There are about 2000 pairs left in Britain.
Life Lesson: Falcon Baby With Chicks
One day, a farmer discovered an egg. He was overjoyed and placed the new discovery among the other eggs. Hen began incubating it, and soon a baby falcon emerged.
The farmer gave it the name Falcon Baby and raised it as if it were his own child, even feeding it mice and worms—which are not often eaten by falcons—but Falcon Baby somehow grew up healthy and robust.
Falcon Baby desired to be free like the other falcons, soaring high in the sky, but as time went on, he began to feel trapped under the farmer's care.
Falcon Baby made the decision to join a gang of falcons when he one day noticed them soaring above him. Falcon Baby ignored the farmer's attempts to stop it as it extended its wings and took off with its new family.
The farmer was devastated and baffled as to why Falcon Baby had abandoned him. He had no idea, however, that it was simply Falcon Baby's means of discovering its own function and realizing its own destiny.
The Lesson of The Story
The farmer learned from this experience to let go and believe that everything has its own course to take, just as Falcon Baby did when it discovered its proper home among the other falcons in the skies. So, let go and have faith that everything will work itself out.
