This large falcon is slate-gray or blackish above, with a black crown and bold mustache that give the bird a helmeted look. The breast is whitish with black spots. Black barring covers the belly, undertail coverts, and legs. At rest, the wing tips extend almost to the end of the tail. Juveniles are brown with streaked underparts. Three subspecies occur in North America. The largest, Peale’s Peregrine, is a year-round resident of the Pacific Northwest, has the most extensive barring on the underparts and the thickest mustache mark (sometimes obliterating the white cheek). Juvenile Peale’s are dark chocolate brown above with thick streaking throughout the underparts. Tundra Peregrines, which nest on the Alaskan and Canadian tundra and winter in South America, are slightly paler gray above, with an almost unmarked white breast and less dark barring below. The mustache mark is much thinner than on Peale’s. Juvenile Tundras are warm brown above with a pale crown. The buffy underparts are finely streaked. The mustache mark is very thin, reminiscent of Prairie Falcon. The subspecies that breeds mid-continent, F.g. anatum, is variable and intermediate between Peale’s and Tundra.

Length: 41 (cm) Wingspan: 109 (cm)

Voice:

An unhurried series of kack-kack-kack-kack-kack-kack.

Habitat:

Uses a wide variety of habitat, including tundra, wetlands, coasts, cities, mountains, steppe, rimrock.

Behavior:

Females, which are larger and broader winged than males, fly with shallower and slower wingbeats. Often spots prey from as much as a mile away and makes an extended dive reaching speeds of over 100 mph.

Feeding:

Feeds primarily on birds captured in the air.