Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The saker falcon has been used in falconry for thousands of years, and like its very close relative, the gyrfalcon, is a highly regarded in it. Swift and powerful, it is effective against medium-sized to large-sized game bird species. [21] Saker falcons can reach speeds of 120 to 150 km/h and suddenly swoop down on their prey. [22]
Additional large raptors, i.e. those that can average 1,000 g (2.2 lb) or more in body mass, taken as prey include the 1,080 g (2.38 lb) red kites (Milvus milvus) from the genus Milvus, and the rough-legged buzzards (Buteo lagopus) and saker falcons (Falco cherrug), in both of which females average more than 1,000 g (2.2 lb).
Most falcon species used in falconry are specialized predators, most adapted to capturing bird prey such as the peregrine falcon and merlin. A notable exception is the use of desert falcons such the saker falcon in ancient and modern falconry in Asia and Western Asia, where hares were and are commonly taken.
Falcons are known to be very susceptible to avian influenza. Therefore, an experiment was done with hybrid gyr-saker falcons, which found that five falcons vaccinated with a commercial H5N2 influenza vaccine survived infection with a highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, whereas five unvaccinated falcons died. Thus, both wild and captive gyrfalcons ...
They are large, black-and-white, or completely black, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have colored inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week.
A large falcon, it preys on birds and bats. [2] Most likely either the lanner or peregrine falcon was the sacred species of falcon to the ancient Egyptians, [3] and some ancient Egyptian deities, like Ra and Horus, were often represented as a man with the head of a lanner falcon.
The Altai falcon has been identified as a color morph of the Central Asian saker falcon (Falco cherrug milvipes), as per the latest genetic research (Zinevich et al. 2023). Previously, it was variously classified as a morph, a subspecies ( Falco cherrug altaicus ), and even separate species ( Falco altaicus ).
It lays 2–4 eggs. Incubation is said to take 28 days and both parents share in this duty, though the female does the greater part. [17] It is a very bold and courageous bird and was used in falconry, trained to hawk birds like quails, larks, hoopoes, drongos, etc. [18]