To: Journey North
From: Skip Ambrose,
Peregrine Falcon Biologist
Many of you have asked what peregrine falcon eggs look like. Skip was kind enough to send us a picture of some falcon eggs. Be sure to take a look below.
From ALASKA:
Q. what color is it?
A. Peregrine falcons are gray on the back and white on the breast. Birds less han one year old are brown and white. Good pictures are in bird quides.
Q. what size is it?
A. Peregrine falcons are about as big as crows, and the females are about one third larger than the males.
Q. how many eggs does it lay?
A. Peregrine falcons usually lay three or four eggs per year.
kclark@kpbsd.k12.ak.us (Kathy Clark)
From ONTARIO:
Q. Do you know the sex of the birds? Is falcon #665 a male or female?
A. We think we have an idea. All of the birds we tagged in 1994 and 1995 were females. This is because the females are bigger than the males, and the satellite transmitters are not small enough males, so we have tagged only females so far.
David Chamberlain
Resource Teacher with the Peel Board of Education
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
davecham@idirect.com
From CONNECTICUT:
Q. We are first graders in Pomfret, Ct and we want to know if peregrine falcons stand up when they sleep.
A. Like many birds, peregrine normally sleep standing on one leg with the head resting on their back. That sounds kind of strange, but it is easy for them to turn their heads all the way backwards.
From: Sandra Willoughbe <swillo@neca.com>
From MINNESOTA:
Q. How do peregrine falcons dive up to 200 M.P.H. if they can only fly at fifty M.P.H.?
A. GRAVITY!!!!! The falcons pump their wings as hard as they can and start diving down, then they fold their wings very close to their body so they look like a bullet, and gravity pulls them down even faster.
Q. Where in Minneasota do most peregrine falcons live?
A. Peregrines nest on cliffs, and cliffs often occur along rivers because rivers erode the banks and, over thousands of years, this creates cliffs. So, when there are cliffs, there might be peregrine falcons nesting.
From MINNESOTA:
We have learned a lot about the peregrine falcon through Journey North.
These are a couple questions we have for Skip:
Q. How do the falcons know when to return to their summer homes?
A. When the daylight hours start changing in their wintering areas, the peregrines, and other birds, know it is time to start migrating. This is called photoperiodism---and nearly all plant's and animal's internal clocks work on the amount of daylight hours.
Q. Do the falcons know when the pack gives off a signal (i.e. does it vibrate)?
A. No. Nothing moves in the transmitter, and the frequency is beyond the hearing range of animals and birds.
Ms. Paulus's 4th Grade Class
Deephaven Elementary School
Deephaven, Minnesota From: "Paulus, Mary" <mpaulus@dh.minnetonka.k12.mn.us>
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