Peregrine
Peregrines are large falcons about the size of a crow, though the female, as is the case with almost all birds of prey, is much larger than the male.
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Falcons are raptors or birds of prey which have long pointed wings and short to medium sized tails. They also have a notched beak which they use kill their prey quickly. Peregrines are slate-blue in colour on the back with a creamy coloured breast with dark-barred thighs and wings on the underside, and they have yellow legs and talons and eye circles. Young adults may be brown on the back. Peregrines heads appear hooded due to the darker colour above the eye and they have a moustache or malar stripe of dark colour below the eye, which can be used to identify individual birds. Peregrines nest on cliffs on the bare rock or in the abandoned nests of other birds. They fly with powerful quick strokes of their wings and can dive or stoop at speeds of up to 300 kms per hour to take their prey mostly other birds in flight. When it dives the peregrine pulls its pointed wings close into its body making a highly streamlined wedge shape, hurtling out of the sky onto their prey which they pinpoint with their extremely sharp eyesight. Their call is a grating kak-kak-kak-kak-kak.
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