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They love to eat pigeons and other small birds, such as young ducks, quails, moorhens, plovers, and starlings.
In a pinch, they’ll even steal a fish from other falcons!
Peregrines mate for life and are well known for adapting to urban environments, building nests on skyscrapers, cathedral steeples, and on towers of factories or electrical grids.
According to the Canadian Wildlife Foundation, urban peregrine nests have been found in Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Brandon, Winnipeg, London, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, and Saint John.
Peregrine moms will lay up to 7 dark brown, speckled edges per clutch of eggs, which take around a month to hatch.
The young chicks will stay with their parents for up to two months, learning important skills before leaving the nest forever.
What a short childhood!
At one time, the birds were considered an endangered species. However, recent decades have seen peregrine populations soar.
While they’re still at risk in Canada, they’re now considered fairly healthy or recovering in most regions of the world.
They’re popular among falconers, so a local raptor or bird of prey centre is probably your best chance of seeing one up close.
However, they are also native to Canada’s coastal and arctic regions, calling the tall cliffs their home.
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