Peregrine Falcon

The Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), also known simply as the Peregrine, and historically also as "Duck Hawk" in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is a large falcon, about the size of a large crow, with the female being larger than the male, and with a blue-gray back, barred white underside, and a black head and "mustache". About seventeen subspecies are recognized, which vary in appearance and range. It feeds almost exclusively on medium-sized birds, but will occasionally hunt small mammals. It reaches sexual maturity at one year, and mates for life. It nests in a scrape, normally on cliff edges or, in recent times on tall man-made structures. The Peregrine Falcon became an endangered species due to the use of pesticides, especially DDT. Since the ban on DDT from the beginning of the 1970s onwards, the populations recovered, supported by large scale protection of nesting places and releases to the wild.
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