falcon

The peregrine falcon’s wing span is 40" to 46" long. The female is usually bigger than the male. They are blue or bluish gray in color and they are 20" long.

The falcons live along cliffs near seacoasts, rivers, lakes and mountains. Scientists are now taking them into cities where nests are found on the ledges of buildings.

Their nests are called eyries. They lay 3-4 eggs at a time. They say "kek kek kek kek" when enemies are near their nests.

When peregrines hunt for their food, they circle the prey from above, dive or "stoop" at over 200 mph towards the prey, and grip the prey with long talons. They use their beak to kill and tear apart the prey. They eat mostly other birds.

Peregrine falcons are endangered because of pesticides, like DDT. The pesticides are sprayed on crops. The falcon’s prey eats the crops and the poison is passed to the falcon. The poison causes the shells on the eggs to soften which damages the baby birds.

Peregrine means wanderer.

Sources:
The World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 97 Encyclopedia

Wordt z.s.m. vertaald

Written by: Mrs. Heismann’s 1st Grade Class

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