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Peregrine Falcon
Falco peregrinus | Slechtvalk | Halcón peregrino
The fastest bird in the world, killing its prey in mid-air at the end of a stoop. After near-extinction from DDT it now nests on church towers, pylons and harbour cranes in the middle of the Dutch landscape.
Voice
At the eyrie a loud, harsh, insistent alarm: kek-kek-kek-kek, hard and furious, much heavier than a Kestrel's. Also a plaintive ee-chip at food passes. Mainly February to June, when pairs call over towers and cliffs.
Recording: Sternanita3 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Identification
Compact and powerfully built, with a broad chest, short tail and broad-based wings that narrow to sickles in the attack. Adults slate-grey above and finely barred white below, with a broad black moustache on a white cheek. Juveniles brown, streaked rather than barred on the underparts.
Confusion species
Hobby: far slimmer, with longer, narrower sickle wings, rusty trousers and heavy streaking, and a lighter, more agile flight. Lanner in southern Europe: longer-tailed, paler, with a cream crown and a narrower moustache, hunting lower and more gliding. Juvenile Peregrines, streaked below, can suggest a Hobby.
Habitat
Originally rock faces and sea cliffs, now also church towers, chimneys, power stations and pylons. Hunts over open ground: tidal flats, polders, lakes and harbours, anywhere pigeons, waders and ducks can be caught in the air.
Range and movements
Widespread across Europe, from the Norwegian coast to the Spanish sierras. In the Netherlands an increased breeder on man-made structures and present year-round; northern birds add to numbers on the Wadden Sea and in the Delta in winter. In Spain resident on cliffs and in city centres.
- Resident
- Breeding (summer)
- Winter
- Passage
- Migration direction
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
Where and when to look
October to March on the tidal flats or in the Delta on a rising tide: watch for the moment a whole cloud of waders lifts and balls up. At known towers it pays to wait in March and April for the display flight and the food pass.
Conservation status
One of conservation's great successes: after the collapse caused by DDT and other organochlorines the species has recovered across Europe, helped by nest boxes on buildings. Illegal persecution by pigeon fanciers, theft of eggs and young, and collisions remain local problems.