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The black morph is similar but has a strongly black-spotted underside, rather than finely barred as in the peregrine and the brown-morph gyrfalcon. White form gyrfalcons are the only predominantly white falcons. Silver gyrfalcons resemble a light grey lanner falcon of larger size. The species shows no sex-based colour differences; juveniles are ...
Peregrine falcons have a flicker fusion frequency of 129 Hz (cycles per second), very fast for a bird of its size, and much faster than mammals. [60] A study testing the flight physics of an "ideal falcon" found a theoretical speed limit at 400 km/h (250 mph) for low-altitude flight and 625 km/h (388 mph) for high-altitude flight. [61]
As with hawks and owls, falcons exhibit sexual dimorphism, with the females typically larger than the males, thus allowing a wider range of prey species. [10] As is the case with many birds of prey, falcons have exceptional powers of vision; the visual acuity of one species has been measured at 2.6 times that of human eyes. [11]
The saker falcon is a large hierofalcon, larger than the lanner falcon and almost as large as gyrfalcon at 45–57 cm (18–22 in) length with a wingspan of 97–126 cm (38–50 in). Males weigh between 730–990 g (26–35 oz) and females 970–1,300 g (34–46 oz). It resembles a larger but browner Gyrfalcon.
The female is larger than the male. It resembles its relative in general structure. Female Barbary falcons are as large as male peregrine falcons. Adults have paler grey-blue upperparts than the peregrine falcon and often have a buff wash to the barred underparts, whereas the larger species has a whiter background colour.
It will regularly take prey from the size of sparrows or finches to birds approximately its own weight, and occasionally much larger. The prairie falcon is the only larger falcon species native strictly to North America (others are found throughout the Americas and beyond, such as the peregrine falcon with its cosmopolitan distribution).
The New Zealand falcon (Māori: kārearea, kārewarewa, or kāiaia; Falco novaeseelandiae) is New Zealand's only falcon, and one of only four living native and two endemic birds of prey. [3] It is frequently mistaken for the larger and more common swamp harrier. It is the country's most threatened bird of prey, with only around 5000–15000 ...
Despite being bird-eaters and bigger than sociable weavers, the pygmy falcons largely leave the latter alone, though they do occasionally catch and eat nestlings and even adults. [ 6 ] In addition, falcons are obligate users of white-headed buffalo weaver nests; therefore, they experience all of the benefits these nests provide without the ...