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Peregrine Falcon
Falco peregrinus
-21.7309, -46.9743
Field Notes
Description:
The Peregrine Falcon has a body length of 34 to 58cm (13–23 in) and a wingspan from 74 to 120cm (29–47 in).
Powerful and fast-flying, the Peregrine Falcon hunts medium-sized birds, dropping down on them from high above in a spectacular stoop.
Habitat:
Prefer coastal or mountainous areas, but can also be found in large cities. Found on all continents except Antarctica.
I found this specimen in a radio tower, near the school where I teach, a region near a transition between the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest.
Notes:
Due to its striking hunting technique, the Peregrine has often been associated with aggression and martial prowess. Native Americans of the Mississippian culture used the Peregrine, along with several other birds of prey, in imagery as a symbol of "aerial (celestial) power" and buried men of high status in costumes associating to the ferocity of "raptorial" birds. In the late Middle Ages, the Western European nobility that used Peregrines for hunting, considered the bird associated with princes in formal hierarchies of birds of prey, just below the Gyrfalcon associated with kings. It was considered "a royal bird, more armed by its courage than its claws". Terminology used by Peregrine breeders also used the Old French term gentil, "of noble birth; aristocratic", particularly with the Peregrine.
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