Peregrine Falcons: Rapacious Raptors of the Sky

With its distinctive black-speckled breasts and under-wings, the crow-sized peregrine falcon is seemingly fragile, but the raptor is in fact among the fiercest and swiftest of avian predators—one capable of plummeting up to 200 miles an hour to snatch feathered prey from the sky.

The peregrine is also among the most widespread of avian species. Although some southern populations are resident, many populations migrate vast distances, ranging from Alaska and Canada to Argentina and Chili.

The Texas Coast is one of the most important staging areas for migrating peregrines where they are regularly seen on Nature Conservancy preserves like the Texas City Preserve and Mad Island March Preserve, as well as the public lands the Conservancy has helped expand, such as the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge.

Along the Texas coast, peregrine falcons are star attractions for winter birding trips, including those led by well-known surf-fishing guide and conservationist Billy Sandifer of Flour Bluff.

One of the irascible guide’s groups was thrilled to spot a peregrine perched on a driftwood log and ripping into a fresh kill. As binoculars were focused, gasps were heard when the birders realized the falcon was eating one its smaller cousins known as a kestrel.

“Cool,” Sandifer stated with unapologetic admiration.

Decimated by DDT contamination, peregrine falcon populations had declined to the point that there were no nesting pairs to be found east of the Mississippi River by the mid-1960s. In a conservation success story rivaling that of the bald eagle, the falcons rebounded to the extent of being removed from the endangered list in the 1990s.

Typically associated with open grasslands and plains, the falcons have started to colonize cities, nesting on the ledges of buildings and finding easy prey among flocks of pigeons.

In an amazing example of migration over a 12-month period, a mated pair of peregrines trapped and outfitted with tracking transmitters on the Texas coast in the spring of 2005 were tracked flying north together to the Canadian border. From there, they split up, with one flying northwest to Point Barrow area above the Arctic Circle and the other flying northeast to the northern reaches of Quebec.

After feeding more than 2,600 miles apart through the summer, the pair simultaneously began migrating south, returning to the Texas before reuniting in Central America and continuing onward to Brazil.

Cool.