Born to Stun: Meet the Falcon Bird Family

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Falcons are nature’s fighter jets, stealth bombers and next-gen defensive drones rolled into one. These aerial artists can zoom, aim, float and, of course, dive with prowess unrivaled in the animal kingdom. Even other birds of prey pale in comparison when it comes to a falcon bird and its sheer athletic ability.

“They’re so different from hawks, eagles and owls,” says Alvaro Jaramillo, a California-based ornithologist and owner of the birding outfitter Alvaro’s Adventures. “They’re intelligent and play tricks.” In fact, falcons are closely related to caracaras, parrots and seriemas, which are all known for their curiosity and cognition.

“The skin around falcons’ eyes makes them really unique,” Alvaro says. “It’s almost like they’re perceiving you.” From a birder’s standpoint, these birds are worth perceiving too. With six different species in the United States—some rare and some ubiquitous—falcons are year-round spectacles over city streets, farms, cliffsides and, occasionally, tree-filled yards.

Discover fascinating falcon bird facts you should know.

The Juggernaut: Peregrine Falcon

Dave Welling

With a broad tail and a wingspan that tops 40 inches, peregrine falcons exhibit both agility and brawn. The highly adaptable species spans all of North America and can be found on every continent except Antarctica. It sports a black mask that contrasts the yellow on its eyes, beak and legs. Overall, females are darker in plumage and larger in size than males.

Search for these falcons along urban skylines, bridges and mudflats where tasty shorebirds and waterfowl congregate. You might even catch one hunting—but don’t blink! Peregrines hit their prey so fast and hard, “you can seldom prepare for it,” Alvaro says. “It’s just an explosion of feathers.”

The Feisty Falcon Bird: American Kestrel

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Cute as a kitten and tiny enough to fit in a tennis ball can (ask any scientist who’s weighed one), American kestrels seem to be the foil to their peregrine cousins. And in some ways they are. They have long wings and tails that are pointed at the ends, allowing them to hover in the wind and catch insects in flight. The sexes look drastically different, with the females being more cinnamon and the males with more powder blue coloring.

The highly vocal species prefers grasslands across the Lower 48, but has suffered from habitat loss since the 1970s. Homeowners can spur the species’ comeback by setting up nesting boxes and using fewer pesticides.

The Magician: Merlin

Mike Matthews Photography

This falcon bird has the perfect name: Merlin comes from the ancient French word esmerillon, meaning “falcon,” which also describes the raptor’s crafty nature. Merlins will sit as still as statues on conifers or telephone poles, or mimic a northern flicker’s undulating flight pattern to catch their prey off guard, Alvaro says. They overlap in range with both kestrels and peregrines, but can be picked out by their compact bodies, short tails and solid-color faces.

While the species doesn’t get as much conservation attention as other birds of prey, it has seen a massive recovery after the DDT ban and has become a staple in suburban and urban neighborhoods.

The Wanderer Falcon Bird: Prairie Falcon

Brown as a painter’s brush, prairie falcons skim meadows, fields and desert flats all over the western U.S. They’re comparable in size to peregrines and also have yellow around their beaks and on their legs. The key to distinguishing the two species—aside from their habitat—is the dark stretch of feathers under the prairie falcon’s wings.

The birds mainly feed on smaller birds, such as meadowlarks and starlings, and will cache food between rocks for emergencies. In more laid-back times you might notice them honing their hunting skills by “playing catch” with cow dung patties.

The Northern Star: Gyrfalcon

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If you spot a stray gyrfalcon on the mainland in fall or winter, consider yourself lucky. Most people have to travel to the Arctic Circle to see one, though the species will dip down to the U.S.-Canada border outside of breeding season. The raptors keep their range tight for a good reason: They’re highly adapted to taking down prey on the open tundra, reaching speeds of 60 mph as they dive down and chase game birds along the ground.

“They’re strange because they almost don’t look like falcons when flying,” Alvaro says. “They’re heavy and act more like goshawks.” (In fact, the females can get about as big as red-tailed hawks.) Gyrfalcons come in different morphs: gray, dark brown, snow white and variations in between.

The Fighter: Aplomado Falcon

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Aplomados are the most exclusive falcons in the States. They almost went extinct in the Southwest in the mid-1900s, but can now be found in a sliver between New Mexico and Texas, thanks to painstaking reintroduction efforts. A trip to their protected nesting grounds may be worthwhile, because “everything about the species is pretty,” Alvaro says.

This falcon bird has delicate stripes on its wings and tail, a face mask, a rusty belly and a blue-gray colored back. Its name, which is Spanish for lead-colored, is a reminder of its expansive home range in the grasslands of Mexico and South America.

About The Expert

Author, tour guide, and avian researcher, Alvaro Jaramillo founded his own tour company, Alvaro’s Adventures, and leads birding trips around the world. He holds a bachelor of science in zoology and a master of science in ecology and evolution from the University of Toronto. He also serves as a consultant for the National Audubon Society, and as a biologist for San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory.

Sources

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Peregrine Falcon
• Audubon, Research Reveals Exactly Why Peregrine Falcons Are So Deadly
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology, American Kestrel
• USGS, Identifying Causes of American Kestrel Declines to Inform Conservation Actions
• American Bird Conservancy, Merlin
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Merlin
• Hawk Mountain, Merlin
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Prairie Falcon
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Gyrfalcon
• BirdNote, The Majestic Gyrfalcon
• The Peregrine Fund, Alpomado Falcon
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Alpomado Falcon