Hunting tactics of Peregrines 19
CHAPTER 1
General introduction
This study began during an important era of environmental upheaval marked by
widespread population declines of raptors and their reproductive failures in
Europe as well as North America. The calamitous crash was eventually linked to
the agricultural uses of organochlorine pesticides, including DDT and dieldrin
(Ratcliffe 1963, 1967). The Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) proved to be especially
vulnerable to the insidious effects of these synthetic poisons (Hickey 1969). The
established knowledge of how the chlorinated hydrocarbons did their damage to
the avian community was based on abundant evidence that sub-lethal residues
caused eggshell thinning, which resulted in their breakage (Peakall et al. 1990).
In addition, the most heavily polluted prey, as well as seed-eating birds that had
been deliberately poisoned by agriculturalists, were probably first to fall prey to
opportunistic predators including the falcons (Ratcliffe 1993). The subsequent
recovery of the Peregrine falcon, now a matter of record, was associated with
reduced pesticide levels in eggs and body tissue during the 1980s (Cade et al
1988; Court et al 1990).
The toxic chemical threat caused deep concern about the future of the Pere-
grine and sparked the 1965 International Madison Peregrine Conference (Hickey
1969). While the main debate about the decline was centred in Europe and east-
ern North America, the thinly populated Rocky Mountain region did not escape
from the harmful spread of industrial pesticides. In the mid 1960s, an extensive
survey of the western United States and Canada found less than 30% of known
traditional breeding sites still occupied (Enderson 1965). The last of the nests in
agricultural regions of southern and central Alberta became vacant by the late
1960s (Dekker 1967; Fyfe 1976). Subsequent checks by federal and provincial
biologists found toxic residues in Peregrine eggs in northern Alberta and even
on the remote coast of the Arctic Ocean as late as the 1980s (Court et al. 1990;
Court 1993).
Meanwhile, ideas formulated during the landmark Madison Conference and
the subsequent Peregrine Conference in Sacramento (Cade et al. 1988) led to
innovative efforts to restore the Peregrine through captive breeding and reintro-
ductions. Coupled with the efforts by others to reduce and eventually ban the use
of certain toxic pesticides, the breeding program became an unqualified success
thanks to the expertise and dedicated efforts of falconers. The releases of juve-
20 Hunting tactics of Peregrines
nile falcons proved crucial to the re-establishment of the endangered Peregrine
in regions where the species had become extinct. By the beginning of this
century, Peregrines were well on the way to a near-complete recovery in all of
North America (Cade and Burnham 2003; Holroyd 2003), including the
Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, which are the location for
the field studies described in this dissertation.
Against the above-described historical background, I was motivated to begin
my observations by the need for first-hand information on wild falcons. At that
time, now half a century ago, the existing reference books contained a wealth of
detail on Peregrine distribution, subspecies, plumages, morphology, and nesting
habits (Fischer 1967; Brown and Amadon 1968). As well, food habits had been
extensively studied across the falcon’s worldwide range, but mainly through the
collection of prey remains at nest sites. However, information on its hunting
habits was primarily derived from falconry birds, which make their kills under
contrived circumstances arranged by the falconer. By contrast, published reports
of wild Peregrines in the act of capturing prey were rare and anecdotal (e.g.
Beebe 1960; Bent 1961; Herbert and Herbert 1965; Fischer 1967). An exception
was the paper by Gustaf Rudebeck (1950), a Swedish ornithologist, who watch-
ed migrating raptors at Falsterbo on the south coast of Scandinavia. By way of
an explanation for the scarcity of detailed information, the British authority on
the species, Derek Ratcliffe (1980:128) argued that ”the study of food by direct
observation of Peregrines in the act of killing prey is not really a practical
proposition…. a vast amount of time would be needed to collect a reasonable
sample of observation.”
If we accept Ratcliffe’s claim, then this thesis must be judged an impractical
proposition. Indeed, it has taken me an improbably long time to amass the data
presented in these chapters. More than 40 years ago, when I first read the sin-
gular paper by Rudebeck (1950), I did not think that I would ever match his list
of 19 captures observed. As Rudebeck pointed out, the foraging studies of a
raptor should involve many different birds, since individuals can vary much in
their choice of prey. Consequently, he argued, a study of migrating Peregrines
provides a more balanced picture of the species’ menu than a pair of adults at
their nest site. This was an added inspiration to me during the early years when I
began my observation in central Alberta at a time when the Peregrine was an
increasingly rare and threatened species. By now, of course, the picture has
completely changed for the better, and I eventually beat Rudebeck’s score by a
factor of 25. The slow rise of my tally of hunts and kills over time is shown in
Figure 1.2 and Table 16.1.
From the outset, the objective of my field studies was to collect the largest data
set possible on the hunting habits of the Peregrine, based on first-hand obser-
vation. Secondly, I was interested in how the prey, in particular shorebirds,
attempted to evade capture. This too was an area about which little or nothing
had been published at the time.
Hunting tactics of Peregrines 21
THE FALCONS
The main subject of this thesis is the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), an
aerial hunter of birds believed to be the fastest creature on earth, capable of
diving speeds that have been measured at over 350 km/hour (Franklin 1999),
and with one of the widest distributions of all avian species. Practically cosmo-
politan, it occurs in suitable habitats on all continents with the exception of high
arctic tundra, deserts, Iceland, and New Zealand (Brown and Amadon 1968).
The nominate form (F. p. pereginus) was described for Britain (Ratcliffe 1980).
Worldwide up to 19 subspecies or geographic races have been recognized, three
of which breed in North America: F. p. anatum, F. p. pealei, and F. p. tundrius
(White et al. 2002). Between them, there are subtle differences in plumage and
wing proportions, and their typical ranges are widely separated. The anatum
subspecies – formerly known as the Duck Hawk – breeds across the continent;
the Peale’s falcon is restricted to the Northwest Pacific coast; and F. p. tundrius
migrates twice yearly between its arctic nesting grounds and tropical wintering
ranges. Breeding farthest north, tundrius is the smallest North American Pere-
grine and lightest in colour, which contrasts with Europe, where the biggest and
palest Peregrines (F. p. calidus) are found at the highest latitudes.
Subjects of secondary prominence in this study are three other falcons, all of
which, like the Peregrine, prey on birds. The Merlin (Falco columbarius) occurs
in Europe as well as North America, but the physical differences between them
are very minor. The pale F. c. richardsoni of central Alberta is somewhat larger
than its European conspecifics (Brown and Amadon 1968), but its hunting habits
are much the same.
In the past, the circumpolar Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) were split up into
several subspecies or geographic races, but today they are considered one and
the same. Both in Eurasia and America individuals vary in colour from nearly
white to almost black (Cade at al. 1998; Potapov and Sale 2005).
The Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) is indigenous to the Americas. It is
about the same size as the Peregrine, which occurs mainly near water, but the
Prairie Falcon is a dry-country raptor that preys on small mammals as well as on
birds, similar to Lanner (Falco biarmicus) and Saker Falcons (Falco cherrug).
In Alberta, the Prairie Falcon is a year-round resident as far north as the latitude
of Edmonton (Dekker and Corrigan 2006), whereas the Peregrine is highly
migratory. On sympatric breeding range along the rivers that transect the semi-
arid plains of central and southern Alberta, the Prairie Falcon competes with the
Peregrine for nesting sites.
22 Hunting tactics of Peregrines
An early research question I posed, having to do with the pesticide threat and
the alarming reports of eggshell thinning and breeding failures, was this: Were
northern Peregrines that migrated through Alberta still reproducing at normal
levels? And what was the proportion of juveniles in the cohort? Reproductive
output is a critical parameter of the health of wildlife population, and Peregrine
mortality during the first winter is believed to be high (White et al. 2002). How
many first-year falcons survived to make the return migration to the Canadian
arctic? No such information was available when I began my 15-year survey of
migrating falcons at Beaverhills Lake in central Alberta (Chapter 2).
The decision to include four species of falcons in this thesis was inspired by
the opportunities encountered during 48 years in the field, enabling me to com-
pare the success rates of the Peregrine with that of the Merlin (Falco columba-
rius), which also hunted shorebirds at Beaverhills Lake (Chapter 11). The bird-
hunting tactics of the Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) and the Gyrfalcon
(Falco rusticolus) were poorly known. Descriptions of their food habits were
mainly based on the collection of prey remains at nest sites, as was the case with
the Peregrine. The unique chance to compare the methods and success rates of
the Prairie Falcon and the Gyrfalcon came about after I had suffered a back in-
jury that prevented me from walking. All I could do at that time was sit in the
car and wait for raptor attacks on a flock of feral pigeons at an industrial site in
the city of Edmonton. Comparative information on bird-hunting tactics of these
two falcons had never before been published. Furthermore, this thesis also
details intra- and interspecific klepto-parasitic incidents between all four species,
as well as their interaction with other raptors, in particular the American Bald
Eagle (Haliaetus leucocephalus).
STUDY AREAS
The study areas include five different locations in Alberta, Canada, three in
coastal British Columbia, Canada, (Figure 1.1), and one in the Netherlands.
(1) 1960–2008. The valley of the Red Deer River in central Alberta. There,
Peregrines and Prairie Falcons compete for nesting cliffs and prey.
(2) 1965–2008. Beaverhills Lake, a 140 km2 Ramsar wetland east of Alberta’s
capital city Edmonton. The lake is surrounded by agricultural fields, rough pas-
tures, and woodlots. Migrating Peregrines and Merlins occur during spring and
fall. Merlins also breed in the region. Both species hunt migrating shorebirds.
(3) 1980–1994. A 5-km2 enclave of low-lying agricultural fields on mountain-
ous Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Wintering Peregrines hunt mainly
ducks and are frequently harassed by Bald Eagles.
(4) 1994–2008. Boundary Bay, a 15-km section of coastline and intertidal mud
flats near the city of Vancouver. It is a traditional wintering range for Dunlins
(Calidris alpina), which are preyed upon by Peregrines and Merlins.
(5) 1995–1996. Langara Island, a heavily forested island well off the coast of
British Columbia and just south of Alaska. Locally breeding Peregrines hunted
mainly seabirds over the ocean.
Hunting tactics of Peregrines 23
(6) 1998–2008. Wabamun Lake, 60 km west of Edmonton. Over ten years, a
pair of Peregrines has nested in a box attached to a lakeside powerplant. The
falcons often hunted cooperatively and preyed largely on gulls. Also detailed in
this chapter are the interactions of the parent Peregrines and their fledglings,
with particular reference to the question of whether the adults teach their young
how to hunt.
(7) 1998–2000. The inner city of Edmonton. Over two winters, feral Rock
Doves (Columba livia), frequenting a grain-loading railway siding, were hunted
by Prairie Falcons and Gyrfalcons. Their respective capture methods and suc-
cess rates are described and compared.
(8) 1999–2002. A section of the North Saskatchewan River flowing through an
agricultural region of central Alberta. Along a stretch of water kept ice-free by
city effluents, wintering Gyrfalcons and Bald Eagles hunted Mallards (Anas
platyrhynchos) flying inland to forage on farms.
(9) 2006–2008. (Not indicated on map below). The coast of the Dutch Wadden
Sea in Friesland. Here, migrating and wintering Peregrines captured a range of
prey including Dunlins.
For further details of the study areas, see chapters 2 to 15.
METHODS
My methods of finding falcons were hands-off and non-intrusive, requiring only
patience and keeping my distance. The less disturbance I caused in the field, the
better my chances of seeing predator-prey interactions unaffected by the human
presence. My main problem was to decide on the question of what constitutes a
hunt by a Peregrine, and what should be considered only play or harassment of
other birds. This conundrum was discussed at length in the literature (Brown and
Amadon 1968; Ratcliffe 1980; Treleaven 1980). I too struggled with the ques-
24 Hunting tactics of Peregrines
tion of correct interpretation and decided that the only criterion to go by was
whether the attack had been completed and the result became known. In this
thesis, the terms hunt and attack are used interchangeably for one attempt with
known outcome by a falcon at capturing a bird of a species commonly preyed
upon. One hunt or attack could include more than one attempt at grabbing that
prey. I did not count as hunts any aggressive-looking passes at large birds such
as geese, swans, or buteo hawks. Neither was the capture of insects and rodents
included in the tables of hunts and kills.
A pass at a flying crow that evades the falcon by a wide margin and is not
pursued further could not be considered a serious attempt at capture. On the
other hand, any close pass at a bird of a size known to be preyed upon by Pere-
grines was classified as a hunt even though the target might escape capture or
was let go. Over the years, I became convinced of the accuracy of this inter-
pretation. I learned that a hunting adult Peregrine can make a deceptively half-
hearted impression, whereas immatures might harass birds vigorously soon after
they had eaten their fill. The question of deciding what constitutes a hunt and
what not became further confused after I saw falcons grab flying ducks and let
them drop into the reeds, or carry them down to the ground but leave them
uneaten.
Understanding a creature like the Peregrine may largely lie outside our realm.
Perhaps it’s easier to empathise with the prey, for humans are familiar with fear.
A prey under attack can choose whether or not to react in a timely evasive way.
Birds that make a wrong move may end up in the falcon’s clutches whether it is
hunting in earnest or just playing. In their hurry to get out to the way, some prey
are unlucky and hit a barbed-wire fence or overhead wire. On the Pacific coast, I
twice saw a Dunlin drop out of a dense flock careening low over the water in
panicked agitation, probably induced by fear of falcon attack, but there was no
raptor to be seen. It is a moot question, whether these Dunlins had collided with
their fellows or perhaps suffered a coronary failure; evidently they were victims
of predation in an indirect but fatal way. Both of these Dunlins, splashing as if
lifeless into the shallows, were quickly grabbed by Bald Eagles.
The hit or miss moment of a falcon’s attack is a split-second affair easily mis-
interpreted by the human observer. Birdwatchers and waterfowl hunters have
told me of seeing falcons fly along a shore and “knock one duck dead after the
other, and just letting them drop into the water.” Even geese that awkwardly
landed or fell down to evade an aggressive Peregrine were believed to have been
struck and wounded. Similar reports are contained in Bent (1938). These stories
may well have been inspired by the common descriptions in the reference books
to the effect that Peregrines hit their prey in mid-air, so that the victim falls to
the ground dead or crippled, sometimes with its head cut off by the aerial strike
(Ratcliffe 1980). Such events may not be unusual for trained Peregrines that
“wait on” high above a falconer until the dogs flush a crouching grouse or par-
tridge from the ground below the falcon. However, a wild Peregrine will smack
other creatures only in defence, for instance at the nest site. When foraging for
food, it commonly secures the prey in its feet and carries it along. Allowing a
Hunting tactics of Peregrines 25
wounded bird to fall might come at the risk of losing it in vegetation. In the few
cases in which I have seen a wild falcon hit a bird in the air, sending feathers
flying, it looked to me like a failed attempt at grabbing that prey. Some birds,
such as Rock Doves and grouse, have loose feathering that easily separates in
the claws of a raptor.
There is a simple explanation for the fact that aerial hits can be misinterpreted.
Flying ducks and other prey species routinely plunge to the ground or into water
to dodge an attacking falcon. The timing of these evasive tactics is so acute that
it indeed may look as if the target was struck. For this reason, to decide whether
a kill had actually taken place, I have relied on certainties, not assumptions. To
be sure of a hit, I either had to see feathers fly when the bird fell down, or see
the falcon descend on the spot, either to feed right there or carry the prey off to a
distant post.
To determine hunting success rates of the falcons, I divided my observation of
hunts (or attacks) into three categories: (A) hunts that took place under perfect
viewing conditions and at once allowed me to see whether or not the intended
prey was seized; (B) hunts that were partly obscured by distance or vegetation
so that the outcome could only be determined subsequently, for instance, if the
falcon was found feeding on a prey, or if it flew away to attack elsewhere; and
(C) hunts that remained undecided and their results unknown.
This last category included a high percentage of spectacular stoops from a
great height, and far-ranging descents at accelerating speed, as well as some
very persistent pursuits of fleeing birds that carried on out of sight into the
distance or high into the sky. In the Alberta study of migrating falcons, category
C observations accounted for 30% of all hunts recorded. Although they contri-
buted much to my appreciation and understanding of the Peregrine as a hunter,
they could not be used in calculating hunting success rates. As to the difference
between A and B categories, after 15 years of detailed data collection, there was
no significant difference (x2 chi-square = 0.0039, 1df NS) in their respective
success rates of 7.4% and 8.3%. Henceforth, I have combined both categories in
my classification of hunts and kills.
Based on experience, I eventually developed some simple strategies to enlarge
my chances of observing hunts. The first priority was to select an observation
point near a wetland or section of coastline that combined an unobstructed view
with the possibility of approaching it without disturbing nearby ducks or shore-
birds. I usually sat down or used the parked car as a comfortable blind.Wind
direction and sun angle were also of critical importance. However, one of the
most unpredictable yet decisive factors was plain good luck to be in the right
place at the right time.
My eyesight is by no means good, even quite poor under low light conditions.
By way of compensation I continually scan the land or water through wide-angle
binoculars. Alerted by their alarm calls and sudden flushing, I take my clues
from the prey species. Unfortunately, it is still possible, even likely, to miss the
action and only discover the falcon after its strike is over. At close range, a
26 Hunting tactics of Peregrines
Peregrine is easily missed. Spotting distant falcons is easier. After noting a far-
off rising of shorebirds, I scan the horizon and with luck pick up the Peregrine
climbing away after an unsuccessful attack or descending for a new attempt.
One of my early mistakes was to hurry to the distant section of shore where the
disturbance had just taken place, but falcons seldom strike twice in the same
spot after prey have been put on high alert. One low pass by a Peregrine makes
ducks flee to the safety of deeper water. Waders often leave the locality. A
hunting falcon causes a great deal of unrest among prey species, resulting in the
desertion of wide stretches of coastline. By contrast, if a Peregrine has not
shown up for some time, loafing ducks dawdle on the shore and sandpipers
forage in the shallows without interruption. Noting the general calm, I purposely
selected these places to sit down and wait. Frequently scanning the shoreline in
either direction, my objective was to spot an approaching falcon before the
shorebirds did. If an attack materialized, I could follow the entire hunting
sequence from its very beginning. It often involved hours of waiting and stren-
uous effort of keeping the shaking binoculars focussed on a distant speck of a
falcon soaring far inland or at heights estimated to be >1 km. Not all sightings,
even those that began with much promise, led to the desired results. But by and
large, my efforts proved effective over time.
A secondary strategy was to watch perched falcons, sitting on a fence post or
fieldstone, until they flew off to start hunting. Finding them became easier over
time as I learned their favourite places. However, staring at an inactive falcon is
a very boring business that may take hours and still end in failure if I looked
away for a minute, or when the falcon eventually flew out of sight. It was pru-
dent not to approach too closely, and resist the desire to see plumage details.
Falcons differ in their tolerance of humans. The best thing to do is to keep one’s
distance so as not to influence their behaviour. Most times I was unable to see
the perched falcon with the naked eye, forcing me the keep the binoculars
trained for long periods or to squint through the telescope. Providing the falcon
eventually became active and decided to fly into my direction, the chances of
seeing an interesting hunt were best the greater the initial distance between the
bird and my point of observation. A hunting falcon, looking far ahead, often
takes a long-range approach before reaching top speed. Of course, just as often it
dwindled away into the distance.
The above methods pertain to the difficulties of watching migrating and win-
tering falcons. Observation can be much more productive near nest sites because
territorial adults use the same high perches and begin foraging flights at predic-
table times of day. These conditions applied to a pair of Peregrines breeding in a
nest box attached to a tall chimney of an electricity generating station at Waba-
mun Lake in Alberta. By contrast, however, at the cliff nesting sites of Pere-
grines along the Red Deer River, opportunities for recording hunting behaviour
were non-existent. There, the falcons did all of their hunting over the adjacent
fields out of sight of my observation point in the narrow river valley. They
simply flew away or soared to a great height until the trees cut them off from
view.
Hunting tactics of Peregrines 27
PROJECT OUTLINE AND OBJECTIVES
The above methods were applied to the following sequence of projects and the
data collected form the basis for this thesis.
(1) After the Peregrine breeding population of central Alberta had died out, their
return became of special concern to provincial and federal government agencies
who eventually, with the financial support of a major oil company, organized the
release of captive-raised Peregrines along the Red Deer River where the species
formerly nested. As a volunteer familiar with the pre-release situation, I assisted
wildlife biologists in monitoring the Peregrine’s success in returning to the river.
My inventory surveys, which began in 1960, continue as of 2008. A unique part
of these investigations was the interspecific competition, for nest sites and prey,
between Peregrines and Prairie Falcons (Chapter 12).
(2) After the Peregrine had become extinct as a breeding bird in the lower half
of the province, I discovered that falcons of unknown origin were still passing
through the province in spring and fall. When I notified the Alberta Fish and
Wildlife Division, I was hired on a volunteer basis to monitor the migrations at
Beaverhills Lake in central Alberta. At that time nothing was known about the
spring passage of Peregrines in North America, while fall flights had been con-
tinuously monitored on islands off the Atlantic seaboard and along the Texas
Gulf coast. In addition to timing the migrations, I kept track of the adult versus
immature ratios as a useful parameter of the population dynamics and repro-
ductive health of the migrants. I also collected the remains of birds killed by
Peregrines in order to have them analyzed for pesticide residues by an Alberta
government laboratory. The program was conducted for 15 years under contract
to the Alberta Fish & Wildlife Division, but I continued on my own after 1980,
albeit in a less focussed manner, until 2008 (Chapter 2).
(3) Apart from monitoring the spring and fall migrations, my major interest was
the foraging habits of wild falcons at Beaverhills Lake. It led to the publication
of a very large data set on hunts and kills in 1980 and 1988 (Chapters 3 and 11).
(4) Alberta Peregrines are highly migratory and few if any remain in the Ed-
monton region after the first week of October. With the objective of studying
wintering Peregrines, I travelled in January of each year from 1980 to 1994 to
Vancouver Island on the west coast of British Columbia. At the time, little or
nothing was known about the food habits of these falcons and their competitive
relationship with the Bald Eagle (Chapters 4 and 5).
(5) After having attained an understanding of the Peregrine’s winter ecology in
the agricultural fields of Vancouver Island, my curiosity led me on to Boundary
Bay, a section of the Fraser River Delta on the coast of Pacific Ocean near Van-
couver. There, I studied Peregrine predation on Dunlins and ducks. After several
years of data collection, I cooperated with researchers from the Canadian Wild-
life Service and Simon Fraser University, who had intensively studied shorebird
migrations in the delta for decades. A major focus was on the relationship of
Peregrine predation rates on Dunlins with the tidal cycle (Chapters 7 to 9).
28 Hunting tactics of Peregrines
(6) In 1995, I obtained an invitation from Peregrine researcher Wayne Nelson to
accompany him on a nesting survey of Langara Island in the Pacific Ocean, just
south of Alaska and west of the mountainous coast of British Columbia. It led to
further observation in the following year and unique discoveries of the way
these falcons hunted seabirds (Chapter 6).
(7) An opportunity to study the foraging behaviour of breeding Peregrines
arrived after reintroduced falcons began using a nest box attached to a high
chimney of a coal-fired electrical generating station at Wabamun Lake in central
Alberta. There, I began intensive observations in 1998, and by 2004 I had col-
lected a large sample of hunts and kills. An additional area of interest was
parent-fledgling interaction. Here too, my observations were carried on after the
publication of a 2005 paper on seven years of data collecting (Chapter 10).
(8) Based on long-term research at Beaverhills Lake, I compared the success
rates of the Peregrine with that of the Merlin on the same kind of prey, namely
small shorebirds and passerines (Chapter 11).
(9) Klepto-parasitic interaction between Bald Eagles and Peregrines became part
of the investigations at Boundary Bay, Vancouver Island, and Langara Island
(Chapters 5 to 9).
(10) An opportunity to observe the various hunting methods and success rates of
the Prairie Falcon and the Gyrfalcon arose in the winters of 1998–2000 when
both species preyed on feral Rock Doves in the city of Edmonton. At the time,
the existing literature contained very little detail about the bird-hunting habits of
either of these falcons (Chapter 13).
(11) During the winters of 1999–2002, I studied the hunting methods of Gyr-
falcons preying on Mallards wintering along an open stretch of river down-
stream from the city of Edmonton. An interesting factor in the predator-prey
dynamics was klepto-parasitic interference from Bald Eagles. Prior to these stu-
dies, published information of the Gyrfalcon’s food base was mainly restricted
to prey remains collected at nest sites (Chapter 14).
(12) In the late fall of 2007 and 2008, I spent three months in the Netherlands to
study the foraging habits of migrating and wintering Peregrines on the coast of
the Wadden Sea with special reference to Dunlin anti-predation behaviour. In
particular, my objective was to determine whether or not the Dunlins wintering
on the Dutch coast would engage in over-ocean flocking during high tides when
all intertidal habitats were inundated (Chapter 15).
The above studies and data were published over a period of 29 years in six
different refereed journals. In the Discussion and Synthesis (Chapter 16) I
provide an overview of the major findings.
Hunting tactics of Peregrines 29
Figure 1.2. The graphs summarize the slow accumulation of data on the hunting
habits of Peregrines, substantiating Ratcliffe’s (1980:128) claim to the effect
that “a vast amount of time would be needed to collect a reasonable sample of
observations.” The data points represent the number of hunts and kills reported
in my major papers in order of their publication dates (Chapters 3, 5, 6, 8, 10,
15, and additional unpublished data). Depending on location and season,
between 1.5 and 5.5 hours of field time were on average required to observe one
hunt, with an overall chance of about one in ten hunts ending in a capture. The
jogs in the line are caused by variations in the results obtained between locations
and seasons. The slow rise in hunts and kills recorded during the first three
decades, as compared to the steeper annual increases thereafter, can be explained
as follows. During the early years I exclusively watched migrating Peregrines in
Alberta, which have a lower success rate than wintering or nesting falcons. As
indicated by the graph, records began to increase when I added the observations
of falcons wintering in British Columbia, and the line reached its steepest pitch
after 2004 with the inclusion of the records of a breeding pair at Alberta’s
Wabamun Lake.
Accumulated Hunts
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Accumulated Kills
500
400
300
200
100
0
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
