Peregrine falcon in flight (c) Jamie Skipper

Peregrine falcon

Peregrine falcons are one of, if not the, fastest animals in the world. They are believed to achieve speeds of over 300 kph when plunging from the sky after prey. This iconic bird of prey is also one of the world's most widely distributed birds, found on every continent except Antarctica. Peregrines prefer open landscapes, but are increasingly exploiting towns and cities where there are tall buildings for nesting and plenty of pigeons for prey. Unlucky victims are captured in vicious talons after a lightning dive from above, but the killing stroke is delivered by the deadly beak.

All you need to know about British birds.

Scientific name: Falco peregrinus

Rank: Species

Common names:

Peregrine

Watch video clips from past programmes (14 clips)

In order to see this content you need to have an up-to-date version of Flash installed and Javascript turned on.

View all 14 video clips

Distribution

Map showing the distribution of the Peregrine falcon taxa

Species range provided by WWF's Wildfinder.

The Peregrine falcon can be found in a number of locations including: Africa, Asia, Australia, China, Europe, Indian subcontinent, Madagascar, Mediterranean, North America, Russia, South America, United Kingdom, Wales, Ynys-hir nature reserve. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.

Habitats

The following habitats are found across the Peregrine falcon distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.

Behaviours

Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.

Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web

Conservation Status

Least Concern

  1. EX - Extinct
  2. EW
  3. CR - Threatened
  4. EN - Threatened
  5. VU - Threatened
  6. NT
  7. LC - Least concern

Year assessed: 2009

Classified by: IUCN 3.1

Video collections

Take a trip through the natural world with our themed collections of video clips from the natural history archive.

  • Nature's record breakers Nature's record breakers

    Animal kingdom record breakers - how fast can a cheetah run, how heavy is an elephant and what's bigger than a dinosaur? Watch amazing video clips from the BBC archive and uncover the fascinating facts about our smallest primate, the longest stick insect and the most venomous snake.