We all know from school that the eagle represents incredible power, the hawk represents insidiousness, and the falcon represents the swiftness and irresistibility of an attack! Of all these predators, it is the falcon - the bird, as they say, the world! We’ll talk about him.
As you know, the largest birds from the Falcon family are peregrine falcons, gyrfalcons and saker falcons . Falcon is a lightning bird! He is very fast in his flight and masterfully owns different techniques of air combat!
Thunderstorm
Falcons are playing in the air! It doesn’t cost them to overtake any duck or guillemot, topple the ground of rather large geese, bustards, and also cope with herons with sharp beaks! Ornithologists say that falconry is the aerobatics of this bird!
Debriefing
The attacking falcon bird (photo 2) is about two kilograms of steel muscles and simply indestructible bones rushing at a crazy speed (more than 200 km / h)! The falcon strikes his crushing blow with his whole body, as well as with clawed paws. Then the predator begins to slow down slightly to stay alive. Ornithologists observed how, after such a blow in the air, a “cloud” of feathers and fluff of the unfortunate victim still hovered for some time. Here he is so scary - this falcon!
Predator birds from the Falcon family possess the skills of various hunting techniques. For example, sometimes predators patrol the territory at a great height, and then they hit the prey they saw from the air precisely on the ground. All this is accompanied by a steep dive. Ornithologists conducted research and were amazed at how fast the diving predator rushes towards its prey. For example, a peregrine falcon does this at a speed of up to 300 (!) Km / h! This is incomprehensible to the mind! Can you imagine what would happen if these birds hunted people?
One beak is good, and two is even better!
The falcon is a lone bird, but in rare cases, large individuals practice pair hunting. How does this happen? One of them is planning directly above the ground, and the other is guarding production in the sky. Then the lower falcon begins to lift the birds sitting on the ground up, trying to catch them. In fact, this is a tricky trick, aimed at confusing the poor fellow, to confuse them. After that, a second predator hovering above the ground collapses on the scared birds flying up into the air! The victims have virtually no chance of salvation.
Masters of their craft
Falcon - a bird that has no equal in aerial hunting! As mentioned above, these predators have a whole arsenal of all kinds of hunting techniques. Since ancient times, man has been engaged in the exploitation of the hunting capabilities of a peregrine falcon. This allowed falconry hunters with the help of their "pets" to catch hares, ducks, pheasants, partridges.
Falconry is considered a very ancient occupation. After all, peregrine Falcons exist on our planet for a very long time. In addition, they have no natural enemies. The bird is ubiquitous and, provided there is no human hunting for it, can exist even in large cities. For example, in Moscow, peregrine falcons nest on the roof of Moscow State University, located on the Sparrow Hills.