Peregrine falcons hunt and eat other birds.  One of the reasons they have moved into cities is because there are so many birds available to hunt year-round.  

Peregrines often dive for their food, a method that achieves great speed.   A straight- down dive with wings folded to the sides is called a "stoop",  and speed may reach 200 miles per hour (320 km/h).  Scott Wright, peregrine nest monitor at this nestsite for the past 12 years, adds:  "Actually, the speed is more like 250mph!   I had a radar gun lent to me by MPH, (a company in Kentucky that makes radar guns for the police) and I had the gun for two years.  I had Szell (an earlier male peregrine falcon at this nestsite) at over 250mph."  The falcon uses its talons to strike and/or grasp the prey in flight, and the impact is usually strong enough to kill the prey instantly.   

During incubation and while the chicks are young, Buckeye will do most of the hunting for the family while SW will spend most of her time at the nest.  Peregrines have extremely good eyesight which allows them to hunt successfully even at dawn and dusk, or in poor weather conditions.

After the prey has been struck (people who have witnessed a strike say it looks like an explosion of feathers) the peregrine must catch the prey as it falls. If the prey is not dead, peregrines will bite the neck of the victim to finish it off, and they have a special notch in their beak for this purpose.

A new feature of the Raptors in the City program is the "Falcon Forum".   It is a safe, moderated bulletin board for kids to "ask the experts" questions and discuss falcons with other kids.  All messages are screened before posting and no contact between members is allowed as a safety measure.  Kids are invited to join the "Falcon Forum ".  Click here for more information.  Click here to join.  Then post a message about falcons, either a question or a comment.

To watch the falcons live go to:  http://www.falconcam.apk.net/  Our thanks to EcoCity Cleveland for providing the FalconCams as a public service.  

The photos are courtesy of Scott Wright and may be used in any non-commercial publication, electronic or print, but please give him photo credit.