Peregrine Falcon

A distant Peregrine Falcon on 19 November 2019 at the the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. These falcons are famous for their 200 mph dives, often knocking prey out of the air with their clenched talons. Breathing must be difficult at such speeds, and may explain the presence of baffles, barely visible in this photo, within falcon nostrils. See also my previous blog on these baffles.

High speed stoops are not the bird’s only hunting method. This bird made several low passes over marshland, repeatedly returning to its initial perch. Peregrines are bird -specialists—birds constitute up to 99% of their diet—eating songbirds and other species up to the size of small geese. Peregrines also occasionally take small mammals, amphibians, fish, and insects (White et al. 2002).