Callum Macgregor

Rather big falcon, feeds chiefly on birds, majority of prey taken on wing. Nominate peregrinus: N Eurasia (S of tundra); minor: Morocco, Mauritania and sub-Saharan Africa; brookei: Mediterranean basin east to the Caucasus Mountains; calidus: Tundra of Eurasia; more sub-species in other continents. For hunting, requires extensive open terrain often including various wetland or coastal habitats. For breeding, mainly cliffs, crags, also tree-tops or on ground. Population is increasing, the status is Least Concern. Migratory in N and NE, grading through strongly dispersive to resident in S and W.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendIncreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		32200-62100,41300
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Peregrine Falcon

Birds of Fennoscandia move NE - SW, found in Denmark, W and C Europe, the UK, Iberian Pen., N Africa and few in Senegal and Guinea Bissau. Most birds from British Isles stay in the country, from UK most recoveries in Ireland, few in W Europe, Portugal and one from the Canary Islands (Granada). From the Low Countries most recoveries inside the country, also recoveries in France, Germany and the UK. Birds from C and E Europe move NE - SW and NW - SE, most found in the Netherlands and France, also Portugal, Spain and N Italy. A bird from Northwest Territories (Can) was recovered in Portugal and from Wisconsin (USA) in Switzerland. Has rather fixed migration dates and arrives latest in Arctic breeding grounds of large avian predators, irrespective of snow melt (Curk et al. 2020).

Recoveries by Condition for Peregrine Falcon

Until 1960, 88% of the recoveries were dead birds, including 47% shot birds. From 1961 to 1990 92% concerned dead birds, including 8% shot birds. From 1991 46% concerned dead birds, about 1% was shot. The hunting hotspots were the UK, Belgium, S and W France and Protuga. Birds were also shot in Fennoscandia, Denmark, S Spain and C Europe. Ringing recoveries are rare, but since 1990 the proportion ‘alive, identified by other means’ increased to over 40%, owing to the application of colour-rings that are frequently read in the field.

Annual Movements for Peregrine Falcon

From Nov - Feb the main concentrations are found in the UK, the Low countries and SW Germany; also Denmark, Ireland, France, Iberian Peninsula and C Europe, few in Italy and N and sub-Saharan Africa. These concentrations stay year-round. In Mar most birds move in NE direction: fewer birds in Africa and SE Europe, more in NE Europe and S Scandinavia. In Apr - May further increase in N Fennoscandia and E Europe, few birds in Spain, France and N Italy. From Jun - Sep few movements. In Oct most birds left N Scandinavia, still some birds in N Finland. 

Connectivity by Month by Region for Peregrine Falcon

Fennoscandian breeders are found in Denmark (Oct - Feb), British Isles (Oct - May), W and C Europe (Sep - May), Italy (Sep, Feb), Balkan (Jan, Mar), the Iberian Pen. (Oct - Apr), N Africa (Nov - May) and sub-Saharan Africa (Nov, Feb). UK breeders are found in Ireland (Dec - Feb), Belgium (Apr), France (Aug - Nov, Mar, Jun), Portugal (Sep, Nov) and Can.Islands (Mar). From the Low Countries recoveries in the UK (Oct - Apr, Jun), France (Aug - Feb) and C Europe (Aug, May). Birds from C Europe found in W Europe (Oct - Feb), The Balkan (Oct -Nov), Bulgaria (Aug), N Italy (Sep - Oct) and the Iberian Pen. (Oct - Mar). All recoveries are in the same migration corridor in Europe, but recent GPS tracking revealed longitudinal connectivity among six breeding populations in Eurasia (Gu et al. 2021).

Henk van der Jeugd

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Curk, T., Pokrovsky, I., Lecomte, N., Aarvak, T., Brinker, D.F., Burnham, K., Dietz, A., Dixon, A., Franke, A., Gauthier, G., Jacobsen, K.O., Kidd, J., Lewis, S.B., Øien, I.J., Sokolov, A., Sokolov, V., Solheim, R., Weidensaul, S., Wiebe, K., et al.2020 . Arctic avian predators synchronise their spring migration with the northern progression of snowmelt. Scientific Reports 10 article no.: 7220 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-63312-0)
Gu, Z., Pan, S., Lin, Z., Dai, X., Chang, J., Xue, Y., Su, H., Long, J., Sun, M., Ganusevich, S., Sokolov, V., Sokolov, A., Pokrovsky, I., Ji, F., Bruford, M.W., Dixon, A., Zhan, X.2021 . Climate-driven flyway changes and memory-based long-distance migration. Nature 591 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03265-0) : 259–264

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