The fastest animal is the peregrine falcon. Peregrine falcon is the fastest bird of prey in the world: description with photo, video of the falcon hunting. Develops the maximum speed among living beings. How many peregrine falcons live

Peregrine Falcon is the fastest bird in the entire universe, there are more than 17 subspecies.

It has no equal among the feathered predators, distributed in all corners of our planet, except Antarctica.

Appearance

The female is larger than the male, the body length is from 42 to 55 cm, the wingspan varies from 93 to 115 cm, the total weight of the female reaches 1300, and the male up to 600 grams.

Its back is covered with slate-gray plumage, a variegated and white belly, the head and whiskers are black. On its yellow paws, there are dark claws that resemble the shape of hooks.

The beak is short, there are two nostrils on it, the eyes are large, and the perimeter is surrounded by a yellowish line of 1.2 mm. Vision is clear, capable of detecting a victim at a distance of more than 1.5 km.

The tail is narrow, of decent size, with a slate-gray color and curved at the end. The bottom of the tail is dark in color with a small light stripe at the end.

The flight speed of the peregrine falcon is capable of reaching more than 325 km / h, that's almost 100 meters per second.

Habitat

The distribution area of \u200b\u200bthis species is extensive, as we wrote earlier, it does not live only in the Arctic. However, in other places it lives everywhere.

And so, let's concretize the situation a little and give some scientific data for a clearer picture. This bird lives from the Arctic to South Asia and Australia, from the western part of Greenland through almost all of North America.

Habitat

This formidable predator prefers to inhabit territories inaccessible to humans, on which there are peatlands, steppes and semi-desert. In central Europe, he lives on mountainous hills. Breeds on sheer cliffs, along rivers and in old quarries.

They can also settle in tall trees, occupying other people's nests, since they are naturally unsuitable to build their own. They try to avoid those areas where dense and tall vegetation grows.

Sometimes, no matter how strange it sounds, a peregrine falcon can nest in settlements or cities. Birds occupy nests of other species, which are located on the roofs of sanctuaries and other structures covered with stone structures.

In the winter season, it can migrate to areas where there are water bodies: rivers, lakes, and hunts for other birds. It can be found during seasonal infrequent migrations, adults are sedentary, and the younger generation constantly wanders over great distances.

Reproduction

The peregrine falcon bird mates for life; they choose their nesting place in hard-to-reach places, such as:

Rock cornices;
Tall trees;
Roofs of houses or Churches;

Also, they are very attached to the same nesting place, every year one and also a couple tries to occupy exactly the habitat that they occupied a year earlier.

The place in the dwelling is enough for chicks and two adults to fit in it, moreover, it is reliably protected from enemies and predators.

The body of males is ready for fertilization a year after birth, but they take part in reproduction at 1.5 or 2 years of age.

The breeding season begins in May and lasts until June, in the northern regions it begins later. The male first flies to the place of the dwelling. Seducing a female, he invents various pirouettes in the air, acrobatic action in the form of a spiral, or clearly leaves at a peak etc.

If the female is pleased with the chosen one, she sits down to him at a short distance, which means that the couple has formed. Sitting next to each other, they mutually clean each other's feathers, gnaw their claws.

During courtship courtship in the air, the male often fertilizes his chosen one with the caught prey. To accept a gift, the female turns her back down on the fly, and the male at this moment gives her the captured trophy.

These birds do not settle next to other pairs, the distance between neighbors should be at least 1200 meters, but the maximum distance between them can reach up to 2.6 km. This is due to the fact that this distance will be enough to feed themselves without violating the territorial integrity of their relatives.

This occupied area can contain up to 10 places where a couple can lay eggs, each new season they can occupy one of the places mentioned. The peregrine falcon bird of prey carefully guards the territory entrusted to it, if someone dares to violate their nesting place, they can attack more powerful birds, such as:

Voronov;
Orlov;

If the birds notice people, they begin to show anxiety already at a distance of 350 - 500 meters from the dwelling, it is accompanied by loud and shrill sounds typical of falcon species.

Peregrine Falcon's voice

First, the male circles over the people, later the female joins him, so as not to lose sight of them, from time to time they sit down next to them.

The location of the dwelling directly depends on the landscape, however, in one case or another, the approach to it should be accessible and convenient. There must be a body of water or a river next to the nesting site.

If this is a rocky area, then crevices or a place on the ledge of a slope are found, where a dwelling can be located at a height not less than 30 to 85 meters... Not often, but it happens when peregrine falcons occupy the nests of other birds, such as:

Kite;
Osprey;
Crow;
Buzzard;
Goshawk;

The floor in their home is not specially covered, but with repeated use, it contains old feathers and bones of past victims. One of the features of this bird is a huge accumulation of bone debris around the perimeter of the nest, which accumulates over the years, as well as droppings left by the young generation.

The female makes a clutch once a year, within forty-eight hours, one egg appears, if for some reason she is destroyed, she will lay eggs a second time. More often in the clutch there are 2 or 3, less often from 2 to 5 eggs of a rusty-red color and with brown specks.

It has dimensions of 52-53X42-44 mm. For 35 days, the female and the male will incubate them, but more often the female incubates, since the male is getting food at this time.

After the chicks begin to hatch, at first they are helpless. For the first time in days of their life, their body is covered with dirty-light fluff, limbs are disproportionate and very developed. The mother of the chicks carefully warms and feeds them.

The head of the family spends most of the time hunting, because the need for food increases every day more and more. He is able to fly from 22 to 45 kilometers in search of prey.

After 45 days, the chicks will make their first flight from the ancestral nest, but for some time they will be near their parents, since at this age they are too young and do not possess hunting skills, unlike their parents.

Nutrition

As you already know, the peregrine falcon is the fastest bird and it hunts exclusively on its own kind. Their diet is very diverse, let's take a quick look at her daily menu in the list:

The bird bends its crescent wings and flies as if into an abyss. Caught in such a situation, the victim has no chance to escape, the peregrine falcon beats her with such force that the bird's head can fly off and the body rips open, but if she remains alive, he breaks her neck with his powerful beak.

Life span

In the wild, this bird can live up to 25 years.

Red Book

Couples who live in unsafe places are strictly protected by law. The total number of birds of this species permanently residing on the territory of European states is no more than 5000 brood pairs.

During the Second World War, this bird was destroyed by soldiers, as it caught carrier pigeons.
The male is smaller than the female by one third.
In the near future, he is threatened with complete or partial disappearance.
It has very clear vision and is able to recognize prey at an altitude of over 310 meters.
Peregrine Falcons were often used for hunting, as well as.
Falconry is only a sport these days.

The peregrine falcon bird belongs to the falcon family. This predatory representative of the flora is distributed throughout the globe, with the exception of Antarctica. It is not for nothing that the peregrine falcon is called the fastest of all living beings - it can dive at a speed of 300 km / h.

The peregrine falcon bird belongs to the falcon family

Bird features

In the falcon family, the peregrine falcon shares the first line of popularity with the gyrfalcon. The bird is similar in size to a crow. The body length of males is about 50 cm, but the females are slightly larger - about 70 cm. The weight of an adult male can reach 1 kg, and an adult female - 1.5 kg. The wingspan in flight in an adult is from 80 to 120 cm. The body of the bird is well developed. Even under the cover of the feathers, muscles and a broad chest are visible.

The short tail and wide wings allow the falcon to dive and overtake the prey. Ornithologists believe that nature has created the peregrine falcon “an ideal killing machine”: a sharp beak and long strong legs with clawed fingers in flight simply rip the victim's body apart. The color of the bird is also interesting. Juveniles are colored brown, and the lower part is light gray. But with age, the color intensifies and turns into slate gray with black shades. The breast may turn pinkish, yellow, and gray-white. The color depends on the habitat. In addition, dark blotches seem to be scattered throughout the plumage.

Peregrine falcon - a cunning and ruthless adversary

However, hunters all over the world value this fastest living creature not for its beauty, but for its speed. The peregrine falcon is a cunning and ruthless enemy. During the hunt, he hovers above the ground and looks out for the victim, because nature has endowed him with very sharp eyes. The falcon feeds on pigeons, seagulls, sparrows.

Quite often, a predator can grab a bird from the ground that is larger than it in size - a heron, duck or goose. Occasionally, falcons even hunt small rodents, but they do not touch large mammals.

And yet, peregrine falcon's favorite hunting is aerial. Looking out for prey, the bird develops a speed of up to 110 km / h. And although swifts, swallows and other birds fly at the same speed, the secret of the falcon is a sharp, deadly dive. It dives on its victim at a speed of 250 to 300 km / h, and then hits it with its paws and beak. It is interesting that a diving bird does not suffocate only due to the special structure of the nasal septum. In it, the air flow slows down, and therefore the catcher does not even notice that he is rushing at great speed.

The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird, capable of developing the highest speed among all living things on the planet. Among falcons, the peregrine falcon can share glory only with its relative, the gyrfalcon. Of other species, the Saker Falcon, Shahin, Kestrel, Red Fox are close to it.

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) caught a pigeon.

Like most falcons, the peregrine falcon is a medium-sized bird. In length, it reaches 40-50 cm, and weighs 0.6-1.3 kg, and the females of the peregrine falcon are larger than the males. The body of this bird is streamlined, fast-paced. The chest is well-muscled, the wings are long, and the tail, on the contrary, is short. The ends of the wings are pointed, the tail is bluntly cut, the beak, although it looks small, is strong and ends in a sharp hook. However, the main weapon of the peregrine falcon is relatively long legs with strong and clawed toes. A blow with clawed paws at high speed rips the victim's body like a cutter. The color of males and females is the same: from above the body of the peregrine falcon is slate-gray, the cheeks are of the same color, the underside of the body is light - from white to reddish-buffy. All over the body are streaked streaks, almost invisible on the upper side of the wings and forming a clear "hawkish" pattern on the lower side of the body. The base of the beak, eyelids and paws are bright yellow. Some subspecies may have slight deviations from this color. The peregrine falcon's voice is a shrill "kya-kya".

A young peregrine falcon is distinguished from adult birds by a yellow abdomen and almost longitudinal stripes.

The range of the peregrine falcon is unusually wide, these birds live throughout Eurasia, North America and most of Africa, also found in Madagascar, some Pacific islands (up to Australia), in the extreme south of South America. Peregrine falcons inhabit open areas, most often found in the tundra, forest-tundra, forest-steppe, savannah, on the rocky coast of the seas. These birds avoid continuous forests and deserts, but they willingly settle in urban landscapes, ranging from ancient cathedrals in small towns and ending with modern skyscrapers of megalopolises. In tropical areas, peregrine falcons are sedentary, in the south of the temperate zone in winter they migrate to the south, in the northern parts of the range, they are typically migratory birds.

Peregrine falcons live alone, during the nesting period they keep in pairs. Couples of birds guard their areas very zealously, they drive out from there not only their relatives, but also other large species of birds (eagles, ravens). Peregrine Falcon areas are extensive, each nesting site is 3-10 km away from the neighboring one. It is interesting that peregrine falcons never hunt near their nests, no matter how many prey there may be, therefore geese, swans, geese tend to settle closer to peregrine falcon nests. In this case, they and their offspring are guaranteed to be protected not only from the attack of falcons, but also from the attacks of other birds of prey, which the peregrine falcons drive away.

The favorite prey of peregrine falcons is medium-sized birds: pigeons, gulls, waders. During the feeding period, they can also hunt for unusually small prey (small waders and passerines), but at times peregrine falcons can also encroach on birds much larger than themselves. It is not difficult for a peregrine falcon to get a heron, goose, duck, the weight of which is several times its own. Peregrine falcons rarely hunt terrestrial animals (rodents), and they do not touch larger animals at all. It must be said that peregrine falcons equally take prey both from the ground (sick or young birds that cannot fly) and from the air, but aerial peregrine falcon hunting attracts most of all. The peregrine falcon's flight is light with frequent flaps of its wings, but in horizontal flight the peregrine falcon develops a speed of no more than 100-110 km / h. Of course, this is a lot, but swifts fly at the same speed, swallows and even pigeons can dodge a peregrine falcon. It turns out that the peregrine falcon is not such a successful predator. But these falcons have a secret weapon - a swift dive. Here the peregrine falcon has no equal in the world of animals, because in the fall, his body cuts the air at a speed of 240-300 km / h! This is the highest speed recorded among all living things in general.

Peregrine Falcon in a characteristic peak with half-folded wings.

In connection with such features of flight, peregrine falcons have developed their own hunting style. These birds do not try to catch up with the prey in an open competition for speed, more often the peregrine falcon tracks down the prey from the shelter (a crevice in the rocks, a dry tree), and then with a sudden jerk catches up with it, and the peregrine falcon tries not to fly after the victim in a straight line, but to dive under it, and best of all, to be on top. Having reached such a position, he folds his wings (this significantly increases the speed of free fall) and dives on the victim. The peregrine falcon grabs prey with its paws, which, in combination with a huge collision speed, can already be fatal for the victim, if this was not enough, then the peregrine falcon finishes off the prey with a sharp beak.

Peregrine Falcons are monogamous birds, their pairs are preserved for life. The mating ritual consists of acrobatic flight, somersaults in the air and the transfer of prey by the male to the female on the fly. Peregrine falcons build nests ineptly, the nest litter is always poor and consists of several twigs and large feathers, in this regard, peregrine falcons often occupy crows nests, cheekily driving out their owners. Peregrine falcons always strive to build their own nests on safe heights (rocks, tall buildings); with such convenient nests, they can occupy such places from generation to generation for centuries. In addition, each pair on the site has several spare nests that they can use when the main one is ruined. On vast plains (for example, in the tundra), peregrine falcons dig a shallow hole in the ground - that's the whole nest.

Mating flight of peregrine falcons.

In April-May, the female lays 2-5 eggs (usually 3) of red-chestnut color with dark strokes and specks. The pair incubates the clutch for 33-35 days, but the female sits on the nest more often. Peregrine falcon chicks are covered with white down and at first they are warmed by the female. The male provides the family with food, the parents tear the prey into small pieces and feed the chicks with individual meat fibers. Chicks grow quickly and fledge within a month, and after a month and a half they try to fly. The art of dexterous hunting is not given to young birds right away, therefore, about a month after they get on the wing, young peregrine falcons are fed by their parents. Birds reach sexual maturity by the year, but they form pairs only at the age of 2-3 years.

Peregrine falcon eggs in a ground nest.

In nature, peregrine falcons have few enemies, only larger birds of prey can hunt them, nests can be devastated by ground predators. But peregrine falcons are not a timid bird, in most cases they actively attack even large animals (for example, they constantly circle over a person) and they manage to stand up for themselves. People have always admired the flying qualities of peregrine falcons and tried to use them to their advantage. Since ancient times, peregrine falcon chicks have been caught and tamed as birds of prey. Peregrine falcons were hunted by kings, princes and sultans, in medieval Europe they hunted pigeons, herons, ducks, geese, waders with them. Peregrine Falcons are well tamed and are famous for their prey and spectacular hunting style; there are cases when these birds paid tribute and taxes.

Peregrine Falcon uses the sculptural decorations of the cathedral as an observation deck.

However, misfortune also came from man to peregrine falcons. It happened in the middle of the twentieth century, when they invented drugs for the destruction of insects - pesticides. It turned out that the pesticide DDT accumulates in the body of insects and insectivorous birds, and when they are eaten by peregrine falcons, it also enters their body. High doses of DDT disrupted the metabolism of falcons and they laid eggs with abnormally thin shells; in the 50s and 60s, many pairs of peregrine falcons in Europe and North America could not breed chicks, and this led to a global reduction in the world population of these birds. Only a complete ban on DDT and the breeding of peregrine falcons in special nurseries made it possible to preserve these beautiful birds. Now peregrine falcons have restored their numbers and are even trying to populate such large cities as New York, for example. Here peregrine falcons have a rich food base in the form of innumerable flocks of pigeons. Nowadays, these falcons again serve people, now they are used to scare away flocks of birds near airports.

Not only creatures living on land are trying to demonstrate their speed qualities, but also those who are able to rise high into the sky. After all, there is a constant struggle for life just like on earth. And here, as they say, you have to try very hard to get out of this struggle as a winner.

The speed of animals living on land depends entirely on the structure of the skeleton and on the strength of the limbs. The speed of birds that soar high in the sky depends slightly on other important factors. Here, the speed is envy not only on the structure of the skeleton and on the strength of the wings, but also on the special ability to use all this. Our conversation will go about the fastest birds.

1 place. Peregrine falcon

Peregrine falcon (lat. Falco peregrinus) - this predatory bird the size of an ordinary gray crow, but this does not prevent it from being the most impetuous among all birds. The falcon hunts in the air: before attacking the prey, the falcon rises high up, gaining the required height, and only then falls down like a "stone". In such a fall, the predator develops a speed of up to 100 m / second, which is 350 km / h.

2nd place. Black swift

Black swift (lat. Apus apus) - the main rival of the peregrine falcon in high-speed flight, as well as one of its victims. However, the falcon loses much to the swift in horizontal flight, which allows the second to elude its enemy. Although the black swift is a small bird (its wingspan is 40-46 cm), it can easily reach speeds of up to 150, or even 180 km / h.

These birds live their whole life in the air, there they spend all 24 hours, and black swifts live a little over three years. These birds even manage to sleep in flight: having risen to a height of 2 to 3 thousand meters, they circle there in a spiral, waking up every 5 seconds to make another flap of their wings.

3rd place. Gray-headed albatross

Gray-headed albatross (lat. Thalassarche chrysostoma) Is a seabird with the largest wingspan - 3.5 m! Naturally, the albatross cannot make such a dizzying dive as the peregrine falcon, but it can fly at a speed of up to 130 km / h, which it can maintain for 8 hours.

In addition, he can sleep at an altitude of about 2-3 kilometers, circling almost in one place. Due to its unique speed qualities, the gray-headed albatross is included in the Guinness Book of Records.

4th place. Eider

Eiders (lat. Somateria) - type of large seabirds... The eider in horizontal flight can reach speeds of up to 100 km / h. Although not as fast as an albatross, however, it has excellent swimmer qualities: with the help of its wings, the eider can dive to a depth of 20 meters, where it catches fish, crustaceans, various invertebrates and molluscs. Eiders hardly ever come ashore.

5th place. Dove

Pigeons are wonderful flyers with an incredible memory. Due to this quality, carrier pigeons have been used at all times for sending correspondence. Especially during the Second World War. The flight speed of the carrier pigeon is 85-100 km / h. They can be in flight for about 16 hours - without rest! In many countries, monuments have been erected to the carrier pigeon.

6th place. Starling

Starlings (lat. Sturnus vulgaris) Is a small bird that not only sings beautifully, but also flies beautifully, developing a flight speed of up to 70 km / h. The starling can travel hundreds of kilometers during its annual seasonal migration. It should be noted that starlings are capable of high speed fly into the hole of his "home" and at the same time he is not injured at all.

7th place. Thrush-fieldfare

Thrush-fieldfare (lat. Turdus pilaris) - differs from the rest of his fellows in the way of life. Likes to settle in small copses and park areas - this bird cannot be found in dense forests. The very name of this bird speaks of his extraordinary love for mountain ash. Despite the fact that it is slightly larger than a starling, however, its speed is lower - about 70 km / h.

8th place. Swallows

Swallows are very often confused with swifts, however, swallows have wider wings and a more pronounced “fork” of the tail. In addition, swallows lose speed to swifts. The speed of either the coastal or the barn swallow is about 65 km / h. But swallows are much more maneuverable than swifts, they can easily and not only at high speed, but also practically on the spot, turn 360 degrees.

9th place. Common kestrel

Common kestrel (lat. Falco tinnunculus) Is a bird of prey, a distant relative of the peregrine falcon. It preys on small rodents, attacking them from above. Develops speed up to 60-65 km / h. Easily alternates between slow and fast flight, preferring a soft glide in the air.

10th place. Chizh

Siskin (lat. Carduelis spinus) Is a small songbird that almost never descends to the ground, preferring to sit on tree branches. In the air, a siskin is capable of speeds up to 60 km / h.

The peregrine falcon is a prominent bird in many ways. The absolute champion of the avian world in high-speed flight. In the famous hunting "rates", when the falcon, having gained height, hits the intended victim from above on a tangent, the highest speed for birds is recorded - 290 kilometers per hour. Why are there birds, peregrine falcons lost an absolute speed record to a man on an airplane only a little more than half a century ago, when in the early 1920s the then "heavenly slugs" finally stepped over 300 kilometers.

Since time immemorial, the falcon served as deserving of all peoples symbol courage, daring and courage. This is the bird that, in an air fight, knocks down prey five to ten times larger in weight than itself; that fast predator, seeing which passing ducks from a terrible height fall down like a stone to dive under the water. The eagle, which accidentally flew to the falcon's nest, hurries to get away as soon as it hears a loud battle cry of a peregrine falcon that rushed into the attack. Small birds chased by falcons rush under the feet of people, hide under carts, fly into sheds to escape from inevitable death.
The flight of the peregrine falcon is strong and tireless, its eyes are sharp-sighted; his prey throws are striking in their swiftness and precise calculation. Hunting peregrine falcon behind a flying flock large birds Is one of the most interesting spectacles that a nature lover can see.

In our country, the predator breeding technique is being developed in the Issyk-Kul nature reserve; the project of creating an open-air cage center on the basis of the Oksky reserve is under way

Peregrine Falcon is a faithful bird: a pair is formed for life, not, a nesting place is chosen all life. In the North, there are many cliffs called falconas, where peregrine falcon nests have been known for many decades or even centuries. These birds leave their favorite places only under duress - because of the ruin of the nest, shooting, anxiety.

Some of the peregrine falcons have settled, and the seasonal movements of tundra birds do not extend for tens of thousands of kilometers, like migrations, for example, of red dogs. Therefore, the Latin name of the peregrine falcon, which has passed into many languages, looks like a kind of absurdity - the traveler falcon. However, one can understand naturalists who suspected a peregrine falcon on long journeys if he was met in Alaska and Madagascar, in Scandinavia and Australia, in Taimyr and the Fiji Islands. The word "peregrine falcon", which has taken root in the Russian language, is of Kalmyk origin.

Peregrine falcons nest in various places: on river cliffs and rocky cliffs, on cornices and in niches, on the tops of ridges and bog bumps, in other people's nests and spacious hollows, on ancient ruins and modern skyscrapers. One of the famous female peregrine falcon nests for 16 years in a row in Montreal on the cornice of a 20-storey building of the insurance company, where a special box of sand was reinforced for her. From 1937 to 1952, she lost two spouses, but raised 21 fledglings. Peregrine falcon nests are known on bell towers (in Poltava, for example), cathedrals, towers, and even on the courthouse in Nairobi behind the relief of the British coat of arms. Peregrine falcons were often noticed on high-rise buildings in Moscow, but there is no direct evidence of their nesting there. In the suburban Pogono-Losinoostrovsky forest, before the war, the peregrine falcon successfully nested for many years.

On the ground or in a niche, the female scratches out a shallow hole with her claws, which ends the worries about the construction of the dwelling. In Australia, this process was observed in detail. The male was the first to find a good niche in the cliff. Repeatedly flying up to her with a characteristic cry, he tried in every possible way to attract the attention of the female to his choice. The female preferred a worse cave (with a sloping bottom), but her own. Then she worked for twenty days, digging a nesting hole, without much, however, stress: 3-4 seconds 2-3 times a day,

The peregrine falcon is strictly territorial. Nesting areas of adjacent pairs are located no closer than 2-3 kilometers from each other, usually further than 5-10. The birds especially protect the area around the nest with a radius of about 100 meters, they chase other birds of prey, snowy owls, and skuas here. They also do not stand on ceremony with Arctic foxes. And once we observed how the peregrine falcons hit the dog several times, quickly driving it away from the nest.

Clutch - of 3-5 red-brown eggs. Incubation lasts about a month, feeding chicks in the nest for about 6 weeks.

For thousands of years, the courage of the peregrine falcon has served him faithfully in protecting the offspring. And in recent decades it turned into a disaster. The habit of making a noise, barely seeing an enemy or a stranger, frightens natural enemies - they know the crushing power of the combined efforts of a pair of peregrine falcons. Today, alas, it does not scare a person away, but, on the contrary, attracts. A clear graduation of the intensity of the voice and the degree of courage of the falcons as they approach the nest serves as an excellent bearing of their exact location. Such homing too often ends in tragedy for both the masonry or brood and their fearless protectors. "To the madness of the brave ..." A cruel paradox: a poetic symbol sometimes turns into a hypocritical reason for "shooting in self-defense." But it is permissible to ask - who, well-aimed arrows at the insanely brave suicide falcons, called you to their home?

Peregrine Falcon is a medium-sized predator sizecharacterized by a very strong build. He has a broad chest with hard and bulging muscles, long pointed wings, short tarsus and long strong fingers. Males weigh about 600-750 grams; females are larger, their weight is 1100-1300 grams. The falcon's beak is rather short, bent, with a sharply protruding tooth on the upper jaw; the claws are very sharp and sharply bent. Eyes, he has large, protruding, dark brown, with a sharp, piercing gaze. Perhaps the look seems to be so because the eye is surrounded by a yellowish ring of bare skin. The upper side of an adult bird is brownish-gray, with light-gray transverse stripes; the underside is whitish, with a rufous chest and small blackish spots and stripes. Than older bird, the less on the underside of these dark spots... A long black mustache runs from the corner of the mouth to the throat; legs, beak wax and eye ring are bright yellow. In young falcons, these bare parts are pale greenish-yellow, and the color of the first plumage is dark brown above, with reddish borders. Abdomen reddish, with longitudinal brown stripes. This first outfit is only replaced every year. A flying peregrine falcon from a distance can be mixed in color with a goshawk, to which it is similar in size, but the falcon's wings are longer, and the tail is shorter and sharper.

Peregrine falcon distributed around the globe. In Russia, it is found from the islands of the Arctic Ocean
and northern tundra to the Crimea, the Caucasus, the mountains of Central Asia and the Amur region. It is not found only in the steppes of Ukraine, the Volga region, Western Siberia, in the flat deserts of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, although it happens here by passage.
Falcons are very unpretentious in choosing habitats. They can be found in the tundra, on the sea coasts, in the mountains, forests, and sometimes even on high towers in large cities. In Moscow, for example, falcons sometimes nested on the large bell towers of some churches. Falcons avoid only treeless steppes and dense dense forests, where there are few open spaces. It is difficult for falcons to hunt in the forest, depending on the way they attack their prey.

The falcon, with rare exceptions, does not take a bird sitting on the ground, hiding in branches or floating on the water, and does not touch the animals running on the ground. Its element is air. Already a young falcon, just flying out of the nest, without any parental lessons, seizes a bird flying by with extraordinary speed and accuracy. When attack on the bird the peregrine falcon rises above it and, folding its wings, then rushes from above, somewhat obliquely. He delivers a blow with paws folded and pressed in the body. The attack of the peregrine falcon is so swift and the blow is so strong that often the predator does not have time to capture the affected bird with its front fingers (the blow is delivered, in fact, with the claws of the rear finger), and the killed or seriously wounded victim falls to the ground, and the falcon is already descending to it. If a blow hits a duck or other bird of the same size on the neck, its head often flies off. The falcon breaks the wing bones even in large birds; and a blow along the body rips the medium-sized bird almost along its entire length. This force of blow is largely due to the speed of the falcon's attack. According to precise calculations, falling on prey at an angle of 25 °, the falcon flies at a speed of 75 meters per second; when falling at an angle close to a straight line, the speed increases to 100 meters per second, that is, it approaches the speed of high-speed aircraft.

With such a flight, the falcon is not visible: watching it, you notice only a flickering shadow and hear the sharp noise of the air being cut. One should not think that the falcon strike goes in a straight direction towards the prey: with the terrible force of expansion, the peregrine falcon would break its legs. The fall of the falcon usually occurs somewhat behind or to the side of the pursued bird, and the blow is delivered "tangentially" when the predator, opening its wings, already begins to rise. If the blow is not particularly strong, then the falcon finishes the bird, breaking its neck with its beak (a hook on the upper half of the beak helps it in this).
With the speed and strength of the flight, the falcon sometimes begins to chase the bird seen already from a distance of 1500, more often - 1000 meters (while other predators, for example, hawks, do not attack a flying bird more than 100-150 meters). The most hunting happens in different ways. The falcon, quickly flying low above the ground, scares the bird and, forcing it to rise, flies higher itself, and then hits in the described way. Or he looks out for prey sitting somewhere in a high place, then to catch up. Sometimes the peregrine falcon flies high ("on horseback") and from there rushes to the flying bird. Falcons often hunt in pairs, the male together with the female.
With their art of flying, there is, in fact, not a single bird that would be completely immune from the attacks of falcons. Even swifts and swallows fall into their clutches. Usually peregrine falcons feed on birds of medium size: pigeons, crows, blackbirds, starlings, waders, teals, ducks. Hunting trained falcons ("matured") take large birds - geese or herons.
In order to be full, a falcon (an adult bird) needs relatively little - about 150 grams of pure meat. But in the wild, peregrine falcons eat more; it is not uncommon for a falcon to eat a small duck or pigeon in one day. They eat small birds whole; in medium birds they leave entrails, sternum, large bones of legs and wings. They also swallow small bones and part of the feathers, and the undigested remains of them are then thrown out through the mouth in the form of lumps, called pellets.

Northern falcons fly away from their homeland for the winter, usually following the flying water bird; in the middle lane peregrine falcons more or less saddlers... Very early, even before the beginning of spring, from mid-February, northern falcons begin to move from their wintering places. In Ukraine, they begin to meet in the first half of March; in the middle zone of the European part of Russia, they fly in early April, when the local peregrine falcons are already starting to nest. The time of appearance of tundra falcons at the nests depends on the timing of arrival of ducks, geese and other birds that make up their prey. At this time in Central Europe, falcons already have a full clutch of eggs.
In the middle lane, falcons mate in March. At this time, the male and the female run around with a characteristic loud cry (like "kyak-kyak-kyak ..."), playing in the air at a high altitude. The female lives with the male for several years. If one bird of the pair is killed, another one appears to replace it. Usually a pair of falcons nests many lags in the same nest.

The decline in the number of peregrine falcon is a practically worldwide phenomenon. Very few of the well-surveyed populations escaped this sad fate in the postwar decades. To the surprise of ornithologists, a solid group of about 500 pairs of peregrine falcons is relatively stable on the Aleutian Islands and other archipelagos in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. It looks unique against the background of the continuing decline in peregrine falcon numbers across the N American continent. In one of its large regions - the eastern half of the United States - peregrine falcons disappeared back in the 60s of this century.

The state of peregrine falcon populations in most European countries is no better. Until the middle of this century, about 800 pairs of falcons nested in Finland, and thirty years later, in the 70s, almost 50 (!) Times less - no more than 20 pairs. Fewer than 10 successfully breeding pairs are now known in Sweden. The last nesting peregrine falcon left Denmark in 1973. The modern peregrine falcon populations in Poland, the German Democratic Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, and France are counted in dozens of pairs; some nesting sites are known in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria; several hundred pairs survived in Spain.

The peregrine falcon dared. The same buzzard, having spotted a stranger near its own nest, is accepted to wail plaintively in a respectful distance. The presence of the enemy does not frighten the peregrine falcon, but anger. It is curious to see the change in his mood before the change of observers. Having spotted the next duty officer a kilometer or a half away, the falcon on the nest begins to fill with anger, as if boiling with rage. The voice becomes threatening, the eyes burn, the body is strained. About 100 meters from the nest, the observer stepped over the forbidden line, and the female with a shrill cry breaks down to meet him. In defending the nest, the peregrine falcon is desperately brave, completely obeying the military postulate: “Attack - the best way defense ". Summoned by an alarm signal audible from afar, the male joins the female, the pike follows the pike, angry projectile birds sometimes sweep a meter overhead. At these moments, you clearly understand: any enemy of a peregrine falcon - a skua, a polar fox, even a wolf - is under such a mad onslaught.

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