Peregrine Falcon Rescue

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generatech
February 21, 2007

A tired and injured peregrine falcon seeks refuge on my stairs. Wildlife rescue workers help him. UPDATE (8/4/07): The peregrine falcon was removed from the endangered species list in 1999 after ...

A tired and injured peregrine falcon seeks refuge on my stairs. Wildlife rescue workers help him.

UPDATE (8/4/07): The peregrine falcon was removed from the endangered species list in 1999 after recovery due to banning of DDT and groups aiding recovery (www.fws.gov/endangered/).

See peregrine falcon stoop speed controversy update below.

Rescue Organizations:

http://www.WildCareMarin.org
(see the "found animal" link, which I used to get their night phone number)

http://www.yuwr.org
(Yggdrasil [ig'-dra-sil] Urban Wildlife Rescue) WildCareMarin gave me Yggdrasil's phone number for yuwr.org.

http://wildlife.ohlonehumanesociety.org
Yggdrasil coordinated the rescue with the Ohlone [a-lone'-ee] Humane Society.

SWISS ORNITHOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
www.vogelwarte.ch/
(For English insert link in BabelFish.altavista.com & choose "German to English")

FALCON STOOP (DIVE) SPEED CONTROVERSY
=====================================

***ROUND 1*** SWISS with excellent research versus hearsay

(1) The Swiss Ornithological Institute used military tracking radar and measured Peregrine Falcon stoop speed at 115 mph maximum with a maximum dive angle close to 45 degrees. SEE BELOW FOR MORE INFO DIRECTLY FROM THE SWISS

versus

(2) Bird literature and textbooks, which for years have stated the peregrine falcon's maximum stoop speed is about 242 mph without referencing any research.

I gave credit to the Swiss because they actually and accurately measure falcon angle and speed (and claim they were the first to do so); they used military tracking radar instead of estimating speed or merely parroting the old literature, which the Swiss discount as unsubstantiated. The Swiss point out they do not claim the peregrine falcon cannot dive faster, but that peregrine falcons never dived faster than 115 mph when the Swiss measured them.

***ROUND 2*** SWISS versus SKYDIVER (not hearsay)

(3) I asked Cornell University's Ornithologists about this controversy since Cornell posts the higher and long-believed speed on its website. A Cornell person promptly replied that although they have not measured the speed themselves, they referred to an experiment by a falconer who also skydives. The skydiver jumped out of planes with his peregrine falcon and sometimes had a speed-measuring device attached to his falcon's tail: he clocked the falcon diving at up to 242 mph. (Unfortunately, the reference sent to me from Cornell was a brochure for a private jet company that explained the skydiver's experiment with his Peregrine Falcon; the jet plane brochure stated that NAFA (n-a-f-a.org) North American Falconers Association first published the skydiver's article (I emailed NAFA and await their reply and the article).
SEE BELOW FOR INFO ABOUT THE SKYDIVER'S EXPERIMENT

(4) I asked the Cornell person about the validity of comparing the vertical falls of the skydiver/falcon chasing a vertically traveling prey (the skydiver with a lure) with the natural stoop environment of a 45-degree angled stoop. Though the Swiss measured a stoop angle no more than about 45 degrees, the Cornell person said he's seen stooping that looked like it was straight down from his vantage point; he also said many stoops he's seen occurred at a less steep angle and approached the prey from behind, with the falcon often going slightly lower than the prey before turning up for the collision.

MY CONCLUSION UNTIL MORE RESEARCH/DATA ARRIVE
If the skydiver's experiment was valid, and it *seems* like it was even though so far I've only read about it in a jet plane brochure (cough, cough), then I conclude the following until I see more research:

(1) The Peregrine Falcon can dive straight down as fast as 242 mph; however, a cheetah pushed out of an airplane could also dive straight down at speeds probably near 120 mph even though its max land speed in well under 90 mph; that's obviously not a fair analogy since falcons fly and cheetahs do not, but the question is whether a skydiver-led freefall is close enough to being like a peregrine falcon naturally stooping without human involvement (especially straight down since peregrine falcon stooping so far has been accurately measured at around 45 degrees).

Also, there's a trade-off between accuracy and speed. Because most prey moves horizontally (not vertically like the skydiver w/lure), the difficulty of timing a collision with horizontally traveling prey must be much more for a peregrine falcon diving straight down (a 90 degree collision) than for a peregrine falcon diving at 45 degrees, especially behind prey, which would put the falcon closer to the prey's vector besides improving the odds of surprise and therefore not causing evasive action by the prey. Maybe falcons dive straight down for short period then lessen the angle for accuracy (but this is conjecture, not research).

Quantum Mechanics side note: the fact that no observer leaves the observed undisturbed (at the quantum level) is really greatly ignored by the skydiver experiment, which is still amazing; even using military tracking radar to measure peregrine falcon stooping speed technically disturbs whatever's observed, (quantumly speaking).

********************

MY CONCLUSION:

THE PEREGRINE FALCON CAN DIVE AS FAST AS 242 MPH WITH A SKYDIVER, BUT THE FASTEST MEASURED *NATURAL* STOOP SPEED TO DATE IS 115 MPH.

*******************

That's the total known truth I could find. I'll post newer substantiated info when available if I find out about it.

I think the Swiss need to test many more Peregrine Falcons stooping, especially stooping for different prey at different altitudes in different environments. Perhaps measuring 2 peregrine falcons isn't enough; and maybe the type of prey affects the stoop speed along with how hungry the falcons are and their ages.

**************************************** **************************************** *********
SWISS INFO
**********

Matthias Kestenholz, PhD, MSc, of the institute promptly answered my email about his research into Peregrine Falcon speed.

He explained the research, provided a link to page on the institute's site detailing their use of military-level tracking radar for bird study, and attached a pdf file in German with an English summary of the specific Falcon speed research.

HIS EMAIL
=========
"Two stoops of Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) and two of Barbary Falcon (Falco pelegrinoides) were measured with a tracking radar. In the last decades, our institute has made strong progress in developing this military device to an instrument to study bird migration. We are not only able to track individual birds and to measure precisely their flight direction, flight altitude and flight speed but we also measure wind direction and wind speed, and by calculating these two data sets we get the bird's own contribution to flight speed. Just one example to explain what I mean: A bird that is able to reach a speed of 40 kph with the power of its flight muscles, can reach a speed of 70 kph if it gets tailwind support of 30 kph.

"Most information about speeds of stooping falcons do not consider the contribution of the wind. They don't either take into consideration stooping angles but it is evident that this considerably influences the speed: the steeper, the faster.

"For our two Peregrines, total altitude losses while diving were 250 m and 350 m. Steepest diving angles amounted to 42° and 40°, respectively.
Maximal speed of 36 and 51 m/s (130 and 184 kph) were recorded. For the two Barbary Falcons, the corresponding values are height losses of 173 m and 189 m, diving angles of 20° and 34°, and maximal speed of 42 and 44 m/s (150 and 158 kph). The 51 m/s (184 kph) of a Peregrine Falcon represents the highest speed of a bird accurately measured so far.

"But it does by no means say that the birds can't attain even higher speeds. You can find much higher speeds published, including the widely cited estimate of [much higher] kph, but these are in fact "only" estimates but not accurate measurements that are only possible with the help of a measuring instrument such as our tracking radar (see
www.vogelwarte.ch/home.php?lang=d∩=pr ojekte&subcap=vogelzug&file=../detailpro jects.php&titel=Radar-Ornithology&projId =135).

HIS PDF (in German with English summary)
==================================
Publication:
Der Ornithologische Beobachter
95:107 - 112 (1998)

Aus der Schweizerischen Vogelwarte Sempach

Title: Sturzfliige von Wanclerfalke Falco peregrinus und Wiistenfalke F. pelegrinoides
By Dieter Peter und Matthias Kestenholz

SUMMARY (the rest of the article is in German)
Stoops of Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus and Barbary Falcon F. pelegrinoides. - Two stoops of Peregrine Falcons and two of Barbary Falcons were measured with a tracking radar. For the Peregrine Falcons, total altitude losses while diving were 250 m and 350 m. Steepest diving angles amounted to 42° and 40°, respectively. Maximal air speeds of 36 and 51 m/s (130 and 184 km/h) were recorded. For the Barbary Falcons, the corresponding values are height losses of 173 m and 189 m, diving angles of 20° and 34°, and maximal air speeds of 42 and 44 m/s (150 and 158 km/h). The 5 1 m/s (184 km/h) of a Peregrine Falcon represents the hig¬hest air speed of a bird accurately measured so far.

Key words: Falco peregrinus, Falco pelegrinoides.. stooping, flight speed, flight mechanics, tracking radar.

Dieter Peter und Matthias Kestenholz, Schweizerische Vogelwarte, CH-6204 Sempach

Matthias Kestenholz, PhD, MSc
Swiss Ornithological Institute
Luzernerstrasse 6
CH-6204 Sempach

www.vogelwarte.ch

FULL PUBLISHED STUDY IN PDF
(he emailed me this as an attachment; I posted it here:)
http://generatech.files-upload.com/35...
(After clicking this link, watch the time countdown from 15 seconds to zero then you can click the "download" link.)

**************************************** **************************************** *********
CORNELL SUPPLIED INFO
**********

Dear John:

The fastest recorded speed I've heard of for a Peregrine Falcon is 242 miles per hour. A skydiver/falconer, Ken Franklin, trained his peregrine to stoop after him while he was skydiving. He would toss the bird out of a small aircraft and then jump out of the plane. The falcon would dive down after him as he threw out a leather lure.

Franklin modified a Pro-Track recording altimeter (the kind skydivers wear on their wrists) and attached it to the bird's tail feathers. This gave him an accurate reading of the descent speed of the falcon in a vertical dive. National Geographic filmed a television segment about this several years ago. Below is a link to a recent article about Franklin and his falcon.

Best regards,

Tim Gallagher

Referenced Brochure:
www.dassaultfalcon.com/whatsnew/falconer _article.jsp?DOCNUM=56327&IDOCNUM=56326

----------------------------
----------------------------

Dear Tim,
Thanks for your quick reply. I'll add that to the website.

My only question is whether Peregrine Falcons' stoop speed with a skydiver is anywhere close to the stoop speed when going after prey; the Swiss
noted the maximum stoop angle they measured was about 40 degrees, not the straight-down angle of a skydiver.

I doubt Peregrine Falcons ever dive after prey straight down. Do they?

It seems unlikely since the timing to intersect horizontally-traveling prey would be much more difficult from 90 degrees than from a lesser angle.

I'll email the skydiver about this.

Thanks very much for your reply,
John

----------------------------
----------------------------

[Dear John,]
That's a difficult question to answer. I think what Franklin has proven is that these birds are capable of stooping at these speeds. No one before had ever established that in a verifiable way. Whether they can strike prey at that speed is another matter. It may be that they use extremely high speeds to catch up to prey but slow down somewhat before striking it.

As for the angle of the stoop, I have definitely seen peregrines knock down prey in stoops that, to my eye, were perfectly vertical (this seems more common with males), but the majority of stoops are certainly done at a lesser angle than 90 degrees. In fact, many peregrines will deliberately stoop behind their prey, going below it and then swooping up (using the momentum from the stoop) to hit or bind to it on the upswing.

[-Tim]

Category: Pets & Animals

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peregrine falcon rescue

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persebra (1 month ago) Show Hide

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you know they are the bird experts and everything, but i say anytime you are near talons, you should be wearing goggles or protective glasses...lol!

kiezo12345 (4 months ago) Show Hide

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I am sick of this Face it if a pigeon landed on ur roof or window u would have killed but no that never happens to these birds everyone likes them because they kill pigeons or flying rats but they dont kill the ones that everyone thinks they go after racing pigeons cause they have more meat I am 12 and a young race bird cam home 50 feet from the loft and the peregrine killed it how do I feel

eXAKR (3 months ago) Show Hide

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Calm down boy; it's just the nature of falcons to hunt for birds. I understand how you could feel, but this is just Mother Nature at work.

kiezo12345 (3 months ago) Show Hide

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Unfortunately in our Country it is no longer Mother Nature who is in Control. Man has taken over and has introduced peregrines into habitats which are not natural to them and then protects them to the detriment of other types of bird!

oakandjamiesstuff98 (5 months ago) Show Hide

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i lov peregrine falcons i am a falconer in trainingand i want one so badly but i have to e a master so sad

Bexycool (6 months ago) Show Hide

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I absolutely adore Peregrines.
If we ever have to wright about animals in class, thats mine!

josevanreyes (7 months ago) Show Hide

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The Falcons like "Dude im absolutely stoned what the hells going on!"

ilovetoeatrice (7 months ago) Show Hide

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nice vid

it can hit much higher than 115 mph... i think it has been recorded at 217 mph in a dive

SollyMotherF (7 months ago) Show Hide

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Lovely bird! Well done in getting the right people. These birds are tougher than DDT! They punch well above their weight! They are known to take out geese!

54spiritedwill54 (10 months ago) Show Hide

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They are such beautiful birds.

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Peregrine Falcon Rescue

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