Because of its speed, agility and ability to be trained, the peregrine has been highly prized in the sport of falconry. In Europe, in the middle ages, the peregrine was flown by royalty. The peregrine is a strikingly beautiful bird. Regal and fierce in appearance. Long pointed wings and tail easily separate it from all other hawks, except falcons, from which it differs in size. A male falcon is called a Triecel. The female is called a falcon. It wants live game and prefers to catch it on the wing. It is swift enough to overtake the fastest flying bird.
Peregrine falcons prefer to nest on a ledge or in potholes in cliff walls or on high promontories in remote areas. Nesting sites are known as aeries. At one time in the mid 1930's, it was estimated that there were 1,000 nesting pairs in the United States and Southern Canada.
Now, in all the United States, outside of Alaska, there are perhaps 50 pairs that mate, lay eggs, hatch and fledge their young each year.
The State Fish and Game Commission placed the American peregrine falcon on the endangered species list in 1973, and designated Morro Rock as an ecological reserve for protection of a peregrine falcon eyrie. Access to the rock is prohibited and persons trespassing on the reserve are cited.
As a result of environmental contamination, the Falcons are no longer able to prodilce eggshells thick and durable enough to protect a growing embryo. They are now dependent on man's help to raise their young. For the past several years the Peregrine Fund at Cornell University in Ithica, New York, has provided Morro Rock nestlings, which the adult falcons raise as their own.
There is nothing in the world quite like a peregrine. The power and grace of its flight has enthralled man for centuries. It represents nature in its highest state of perfection. We owe it to our children not to let the peregrine falcon become a casualty and be forever lost in the mad rush for progress.
