The Peregrine Falcon

 The Peregrine Falcon

5/18/21

The peregrine falcon is one of Earth's most interesting birds, and animals at that. Being about the size of a crow, their unique black and yellow look make these feathered friends easy to identify. With a wingspan of about 3.5 feet, weighing just over a pound at 18 ounces, and having 1.5 in length, this makes the peregrine the biggest falcon in the continent of North America.

The population today is thriving, with thousands of breeding sites, around the world, especially in the United Kingdom. As of December of 2017, the species was declared Least Concern, but this wasn't without a 47 year long battle of recovery.  After World War II, the use of organochlorine pesticides, especially DDT, during the 1950s, '60s, and '70s caused a major decline in the population of the falcon and other similar birds like the bald eagle due to a lack of calcium in the eggshells, resulting in fewer successful hatchings.

Peregrine falcons live all over the world, but migrate in certain conditions. They live anywhere from the cities, to mountains. These places with high locations to perch at give the peregrine falcon a massive advantage, and allow them to use their best skill, titled the 'stoop'. The peregrine is one of my favorite animals for this reason. You may think the cheetah is the fastest animal in the world, and to that I give you the peregrine's top speed of 240 MPH during it's stoop. Doing a head first dive, it flies towards it's prey, catching it out of the air, since it is usually smaller birds that it hunts. Due to their diet, their niche is controlling the population of smaller birds like pigeons, doves and ducks.

 A peregrine falcon, mid-stoop

Since the peregrine falcon isn't endangered any more and the cry for help has been answered, our current focus should be on animals that do need our help. In the midst of all of the species on the brink of extinction though, I wanted to shed some light and show a real comeback story, and how a species that was almost wiped out by humans, make such a glorious return. We just have to be careful with what we do as the rulers of this Earth, because it has an effect on everything, and the peregrine falcon is a prime example of that

Sources:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Peregrine_Falcon/id

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/peregrine-falcon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdw8pZ7Zcn4 (peregrine falcon stoop video)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peregrine_falcon

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/peregrine-falcon