Falcons are a genus of birds of prey that are widespread in the world. Their name comes from the word "falx" ("sickle"), thus emphasizing the peculiar shape that their wings take during flight. It helps them achieve remarkable success when maneuvering at high speed. For example, the peregrine falcon is considered the fastest bird in the world due to its ability to develop a speed of 320 km / h while pursuing a victim. Having found prey while gliding in the sky, it adjusts so that it is slightly higher, after which it makes a rapid fall on it, hitting it with its paws pressed to the body. Often the blow is so strong that the victim is killed instantly.

It is noteworthy that in the Ukrainian culture it was the peregrine falcon that was called the falcon since the times of Kievan Rus, and only later did this name acquire a larger significance, including other birds of this genus. It should be noted that even now, speaking about falcons, people most often mean exactly the peregrine falcon.

Peregrine Falcon is a daytime predator

The peregrine falcon is not only fast, but also a very strong bird, which has no equal among feathered predators. It is widespread almost everywhere, as it flies all over the globe... You can meet him throughout Europe, both on rocky coasts and in areas with difficult climatic conditions. Most often, the peregrine falcon can be found on peat bogs, in steppes and semi-deserts. These territories are his favorite places for recreation and hunting.

In Central Europe, these birds of prey inhabit mainly mountainous areas, making their nests on sheer cliffs. V winter time this falcon prefers to settle in close proximity to large bodies of water, where it hunts for waterfowl. It is noteworthy that only young individuals are migratory, while old birds are exclusively sedentary.

Appearance

The peregrine falcon is a bird of the falcon family, the body length of which is 40-50 cm with a wingspan of 90 to 120 cm. It is noteworthy that males are almost half the size of females. Weight the male is 650-800 g, and the female weighs 0.9-1.3 kg.

Most of the bird's body is dark gray in color. At the same time, dark triangular blotches prevail in the plumage. The underside of the chest and belly are pale yellow with dark stripes. Even the black flight feathers are covered with spots. Its size peregrine falcon reaches the size of a small crow, standing out among other birds of this genus with its dark, dark gray plumage of the back, variegated light belly, black top of the head, as well as dark, elongated spots under the eyes, called "whiskers". Depending on the size and color characteristics, there are more than 15 subspecies of this falcon. At the same time, three of them are widespread in the post-Soviet space:

• normal;
• Caucasian;
• tundra.

The first two are rare nesting birds, and the last one can be found only during flights.

Nesting

The peregrine falcon, who has picked up a suitable female, makes a mating flight in front of her, during which he passes her prey to her. In the event that the female agrees to accept courtship, she turns over in the air and, for some time soaring in the sky with her back down, takes prey from the male's claws. After this, the pair is considered formed and can begin to choose a suitable nesting place, which in most cases occurs in large forests, in the midst of which there are large mountain ranges.

Peregrine falcons nest in the crevices of steep rocks, but they prefer to use abandoned nests of other birds of prey for shelter, which they fix so that the nestling falcon feels most comfortable. Such a nest is quite spacious, it accommodates parents and chicks. In addition, due to its design and difficult-to-reach placement, it is reliably protected from predators. In the case when peregrine falcons have to equip a nest on the ground and rocks, they are limited to the device of a primitive litter, which is collected from several branches and large feathers. If the nest is in a good place and made with high quality, several generations of birds in a row can live in it. Moreover, each pair always has several spare nests in case of destruction of the main one.

Breeding and chicks

Falcon is a bird that breeds no more than once a year: from spring to mid-summer (the period directly depends on the region of habitation), while the number of eggs in a clutch never exceeds 4 pieces. Hatching is carried out by both parents for a month. After the due date, fully formed chicks emerge from brownish eggs, feeding of which lasts for 1-1.5 months, while both parents take care of the chicks.

A newborn falcon-chick is covered with a thin fluff and is heated in the nest by the female, while the male is busy hunting for food, which he and the female, breaking into small pieces, feed the chicks together. Babies grow up rather quickly and from the age of one month they begin to stand on the wing. At the same time, the nestling falcon continues to stay with its parents for a long time after leaving the nest. During this period, he adopts not only the habits of adults, but also their hunting skills.

The falcon is a bird, the sexual maturation of which begins at the age of one year, but it will form its own pair only at the age of three. Peregrine Falcons are monogamous birds. The formed couple lives their whole life together. This is due to the well-developed nesting conservatism, that is, this falcon, having flown away to warmer regions in winter, must return to its nesting site next spring. After that, the couple again proceeds to the next arrangement of the nest.

Peregrine falcon watching

The falcon is the best bird to watch when rearing offspring. During this period, the birds try to hunt as close to the nest as possible. Falcons in most cases hover on high altitude, carefully observing their chicks from there. This bird is easy to distinguish in the air due to its large size and special shape of the wings, reminiscent of a sickle. At other times, peregrine falcons can be seen near various bodies of water, where they hunt waterfowl.

Despite the fact that these birds of prey settle in the same areas throughout their lives, representatives of this species do not accumulate in one place. Each pair has its own large area. Birds feed on it and hatch chicks. The distance between the nests of individual pairs can reach several kilometers.

Related species

The peregrine falcon is a bird of the falcon family, the most characteristic feature of which is size.

So, for example, the subspecies living in the Arctic are the largest in the world, and those that live in deserts, on the contrary, are small. The peregrine falcon is one of the most agile hunters among the daytime predators. For this reason, he has long been pursued by people engaged in falconry. As a result of their actions, the already insignificant population of these falcons has decreased.

It is worth noting that a falcon is a bird with longer flight feathers in the first year of life (regardless of its habitat). That is why their wings look much wider than they will be in the future. This structure significantly reduces the hunting skills of young individuals, but helps them learn to fly.

Nutrition

The main food of the peregrine falcon is birds, while their size does not matter much. The peregrine falcon can attack both the lark and the overweight goose. In the event that the size of the bird does not allow it to be killed in the air, the peregrine falcon will do this by dropping to the ground, because during the pursuit of prey, the peregrine falcons develop tremendous speed and it often happened that the falcon did not have time to slow down during a sharp maneuver of the victim and crashed into some any obstacle.

Peregrine Falcons are ideal hunting birds, but, like any other falcon, if they start to chase it, it leaves its prey, which is used by other birds of prey that lie in wait for the falcon.

Types of birds of prey

All diurnal birds of prey that belong to the falcon family can be divided into several ethnic groups:

In some cases, such large falcons are distinguished into a separate group - the subgenus Hierofalco, since these birds have a pronounced content of coloring pigment in the plumage, which makes them very similar to hawks.

Falcons protection

The influence of peregrine falcons on the populations of other birds is extremely insignificant due to the extreme distance between their settlements. In addition, hunting with this falcon is not as effective as it seems at first glance, because only one out of 10 attacks is successful.

However, due to the current ecological situation and the constant threat from poachers devastating the nesting places of these rare birds, the falcon population is under constant threat, even though most of the species have been listed in the Red Data Books around the world. Therefore, whether this falcon will have a future depends only on us.

It is this bird of prey, hovering over the fields, that we most often see from the window of a passing train or car. "Look, the hawk!" - not without childish joy, the man in the street will point a finger at him. Meanwhile, the bird, having described several circles over the field, will make an approach and sit on a haystack, where another “hawk” is resting with its head pulled into its shoulders.

For some reason, it is the name “hawk” that has firmly stuck in the minds of those for whom nature is interesting from the point of view of going out to barbecue. Perhaps, the reason for this should be sought in the distant past, when they actively hunted with falcons and hawks. Or when hawks dragged chickens from peasant farms. But a real hawk, say a goshawk, very rarely catches the eye. This impudent predator does not like to betray himself, preferring to attack from an ambush. But be that as it may, now any bird with a hooked beak and smaller than an eagle is sure to be a hawk!

But our hero is not a hawk, although he is in the closest relationship with him. This is the most common feathered predator in our forests - the common buzzard, or buzzard. He is not as strong as a hawk and not as fast as a falcon. More often than not, he, spreading his wings to the sides and slightly lifting them up, hovers lazily over the fields or rests, frowning, at the top of the pillar. Although it belongs to the hawk family, unlike the aggressive goshawk, it is a typical mouse eater. His favorite food is voles. Among daytime predators, it shares its ecological niche with harriers and kestrels, which for some reason in our area has become increasingly rare in recent years. The buzzard is very flexible in its food preferences. When the main prey fails, it easily switches to other small animals: small birds, chicks, frogs, toads, lizards, snakes (I once saw a pretty decent snake hanging from a flying buzzard from its beak), shrews, moles and even hedgehogs. This buzzard menu complements various insects... Such a varied dietary list, as well as the ability to switch from one prey to another, largely explains the widespread prevalence of the buzzard.

As common of all daytime predators is the buzzard itself, its nests are just as common. The bird nests in woodlands, usually near the edge of the forest, but sometimes its nests can be found quite deep in the forest. Closeness is key open spaces: meadows, fields and especially forest glades, where you could hunt. The bird does not make any special demands on the tree species, if only there are strong enough branches that can withstand the considerable weight of its building. The nests in which the buzzard hatchlings from year to year are completed each time and eventually reach impressive sizes. Buzzards are monogamous. The male acquires a girlfriend immediately upon arrival, or the birds arrive in pairs from their wintering grounds. The breeding period is preceded by mating flights, accompanied by characteristic moaning voices, and even after the departure of the young, mournful, crying cries are heard over the fields, which is why the name is buzzard. 2-4 eggs are laid in the nest, and since incubation begins from the first, the sizes of the chicks differ significantly. As a rule, in unfavorable years, the younger, weaker chicks are pecked to death by the older ones. As a result, adult birds feed them to their firstborn. This is a common occurrence among birds of prey and one example of natural selection. It is curious to note one feature of buzzards, which is inherent, however, and other feathered predators. During incubation, and especially at the time of the appearance of chicks, adults bring green twigs of various trees: birch, aspen, pine, which are folded along the edges of the nest. It is quite possible that they cover food debris with them, and the phytoncides released (especially in conifers) inhibit the development of putrefactive processes.

Due to its abundance, traces of buzzard activity are encountered somewhat more often compared to other predators. In addition, these birds rest for hours on haystacks and ricks, digesting food or butchering prey, after which various food residues remain. But pellets - regurgitated oblong lumps of undigested food - are left for some reason very rarely. More often, the insides of gutted gray voles are found: guts and stomachs stuffed with greens, as well as skins removed from the animals, sometimes heads with a pecked skull (with an abundance of voles, predators are content only with the brains of these rodents). The habit of gutting, sanding and tearing apart a caught prey is probably characteristic of all our daytime predators. And in this they are clearly different from owls, which, without undue effort, swallow their prey whole. Once I found an owl pellet, consisting of magpie feathers, and was amazed at the bird's gluttony. Together with the other parts of the victim, she even swallowed both magpie paws, which subsequently came out of the owl's throat, and therefore were well preserved. In early May, when this essay was being written, I accidentally stumbled upon an old buzzard nest, in which an adult bird was sitting. But there were no eggs. Instead, I found fresh remnants of the meal: the skin from two gray toads, which the buzzard had removed from its victims entirely, turned inside out and torn off along with the hands of the limbs. Together with the skin, the predator tore off the heads of the toads with poisonous glands - parotids - located on their dorsal side. In addition, the surface of the back of these toads is literally stuffed with single poisonous glands, which, together with the special strength of the skin, make it absolutely inedible. At that time, ponds and ditches near the nest were teeming with green toads, which gathered for mating games, which made them absolutely accessible to the local pair of buzzards.

In the era of communism, when everything around belonged to the state, the buzzard was classified as a useful animal, since it guarded the bins of the homeland from the armies of rodents, but the goshawk was mercilessly shot. It is not clear only why he was destined for such a bitter fate? Hunting publications of that time cited detailed descriptions"Harmful" (and how the language turned to use such an epithet!) Birds of prey with drawings of their silhouettes flying in the sky for better identification with calls to shoot them. But as a result of thoughtless propaganda, buzzards and harriers - "hawks", who catch the eye more often, got more. They shot all the predators indiscriminately. Shooting continues to this day. I am glad that the goshawk, this proud, strong and beautiful bird of our forest, in spite of all mankind knows how to hide so much that it rarely gets shot. But, unfortunately, the rest of the "hawks", circling over fields and meadows or resting on telegraph poles, fall under random and targeted shots quite often.

By the end of August, the buzzards, together with the grown young animals, gather in flocks to move south. At this time, they are found in large clusters; they hover at random over the harvested fields, sit on the stacks and pylons of power lines. All buzzards disappear in September. But very soon, when the snow falls, another buzzard will visit our cold expanses. He will fly, as it were, to replace his heat-loving brother, to spend with us harsh winter or move on in search of warmer places. This is the Upland Buzzard, or the Rough-legged Buzzard, as we call it, because they see this bird mainly in winter. For this migrant from the tundra, our northern forests are the real south. Rough-legged Buzzard is similar to the common buzzard, only lighter in color. Its plumage seems to correspond winter period- many areas are white. His short winter watch will last until the beginning of spring, when he will pass the baton of his stay in our area to the common buzzard - a true inhabitant of the forests of the middle zone.

Text, drawings: Alexey SUBBOTIN
The magazine "Okhotnichy Dvor" No. 8 (August) 2010

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), then it was directly about the falconry itself and the show, closely related to it, with the participation of birds of prey, which is very popular in the Emirates (not only in Dubai).

I personally like the show much more, because no one kills anyone, you still need to understand that, in fact, any hunt is the killing of animals (even if sometimes as a result of a struggle), and very many do not like this.

Therefore, such spectacular and harmless for animals shows are more popular with the masses of travelers than real falconry.

After all, birds show all their hunting skills in pursuit of a stuffed animal, which, by the way, can not only be untwisted by a hunter on a rope, but also launched into the sky using various flying machines (drones, for example).

In this part, I would like to focus more on the birds themselves.

As I already wrote at the very beginning, birds of prey can be conditionally (that is, by the hunters themselves) divided into “noble” and “ignoble”.

I emphasize once again that the division is conditional, there are no “better” and “worse” birds in nature. Most likely, “nobility” in this case means the more frequent use of certain species of birds for hunting.

Most often, of course, they use falcons, which, in turn, are also divided into numerous species, of which the gyrfalcons and saker falcons are best known as hunting birds, as larger birds, and peregrine falcons - birds are not very large, about the size of an average gray crow ...

Gyrfalcon (lat.Falco rusticolus)- one of the most expensive hunting birds (especially white gyrfalcon).

The largest of the falcons. The weight of the male is slightly more than 1 kg, of the female - up to 2 kg.

The wingspan is 1.3 meters.

The color of the Siberian Gyrfalcon is light (lighter than the Lapland Gyrfalcon), but variable: from brownish-gray to almost white on top; the ventral side is whitish with a dark pattern.

The dark stripe at the opening of the mouth (“mustache”) is almost invisible. The upper beak, like all falcons, has a characteristic tooth. Paws are yellow.

The flight speed is high, after several strokes the bird quickly rushes forward, does not hover. The sitting gyrfalcon is kept upright.

Gyrfalcon is similar to peregrine falcon, but larger and has a relatively longer tail. The voice is also similar to the voice of a peregrine falcon, but coarser and lower: a hoarse “kyak-kyak-kyak” or a drawn-out “keek-keek-keek”. In spring, it can emit a rather quiet and high trill.

The southern mountain subspecies, the Altai gyrfalcon, which many experts consider a subspecies or morph of the Saker Falcon, is distinguished by a more uniform dark color.

Saker Falcon (lat.Falco cherrug)- a rare nesting, nomadic, in some years partially sedentary species, widespread in the mountains in the south of Siberia, in Cisbaikalia, up to the 55th parallel, in Transbaikalia along the Selinginskaya steppe, throughout Kazakhstan.

Balaban is a relatively small feathered predator, weighing just over 1 kilogram. The wingspan of the balaban is 1.3 meters, the color is brown with a redhead, this species of falcons lives in the forest-steppe zone.

In wildlife, it feeds on small mammals: ground squirrels, pikas, in the southern regions also large lizards.

It catches birds on the ground and in the air - stone and desert partridges, pigeons, sand grouses, large passerines.

Iranian falconers call these migratory birds balaban and the nesting birds sharg (sharg).

The word sharg is close to their Indian name "cherrug", from which the specific Latin is derived.

Perhaps the word for the Russian name of this hunting falcon is borrowed from the Turkic languages, where there are a number of words of similar sound and similar semantics - balaban in the meaning of “big” and balban - “strong man”, “fighter”.

Peregrine Falcon (lat.Falco peregrinus) is one of the most popular birds in falconry circles. First of all, because of its speed.

This is the fastest bird, and in general Living being, in the world. According to experts, in a swift dive flight, it is capable of speeds over 322 km / h, or 90 m / s.

Only in horizontal flight the peregrine falcon is inferior in speed to the swift.

During the hunt, the peregrine falcon sits on a perch or plans in the sky, finding prey, it rises above the victim and almost at a right angle rapidly “makes a bet” - dives down tangentially, striking it with its folded and pressed paws to the body.

The blow with the claws of the hind fingers is so strong that even in sufficiently large game the head can fly off.

In wildlife, the object of hunting for this falcon is mainly medium-sized birds, such as pigeons, starlings, ducks and other aquatic and semi-aquatic species, less often small mammals.

The peregrine falcon weighs a little - up to 1.3 kilograms, the wingspan is 1, 2 meters, the color is gray-gray.

Now about the “noble birds of low flight”.

Mostly it comes about the hawks that stalk their land on earth.

Hawks (Latin Accipitrinae)- birds of prey from the hawk family.

Despite some similarities, the hawk family differs from the falcon family in some ways:

Beak

Birds can be recognized by the outline of the upper part of the beak. The difference between a falcon and a hawk is that in a falcon, before reaching the bent end of the beak, a protrusion in the form of a tooth is noticeable.

The hawk with its even beak with a characteristic rounding is similar to most birds of prey.

Eyes

Many falconers have very dark eyes, often black. Their iris seems to merge with the pupil.

In turn, hawk eyes are often yellow or reddish with a black pupil in the center.

Wings

Comparing the shape of the wings of flying birds, you can see that they are angular in the falcon, with long pointed ends.

The hawk has rounded wings. The wings themselves are wide, which, however, also applies to the tail of the bird.

Flight

Above the ground, the falcon often flaps its wings. He alternates such movements with planning. The hawk prefers to float more in the air.

Hunting

You can notice the difference between a falcon and a hawk by observing how birds catch their prey.

The falcon is not hiding while tracking her. When hunting, it flies high enough. Noticing the prey, the bird rushes swiftly towards it with half-folded wings.

The prey is usually in the air.

A hawk, looking for prey, usually hovers closer to the ground. Attacks from an ambush.

The predator chases its prey and overtakes it on the ground or low in the air.

Hawks are widespread due to the abundance of food suitable for these birds.

Hawks hunt any small prey, and their diet includes snakes (including venomous ones), birds, small rodents, mammals, insects, larvae, and so on.

In the wild, the hawk finds food, it cannot hunt again for several days, since these birds of prey have a special “bag” located between the mouth and stomach, where food is stored.

Hawks have a lot of devices for active hunting: perfect vision, tenacious claws and a pointed beak - this gives them the ability to survive and adapt to almost any habitat.

The most popular, if I may say so about birds of prey, hawks among hunters are goshawks and sparrowhawks.

Goshawk weighs 800-1500 g, wingspan 100-130 cm. Hawks nesting in the south are smaller. The back of adult birds is brown or gray, the abdomen is white with transverse brownish stripes.

Found in the north and northeast of Siberia, white and semi-white hawks occasionally migrate in winter to Central Asia, where they are highly valued by hunters and have special names: white - "tuigzy", semi-white - "tunjur". They are used for hunting in the Central Asian republics and the Transcaucasus.

Pavel Aksenov's blog. Hunting birds. Great spotted eagle. (Greater Spotted eagle). Photo katiekk - Depositphotos

The hawk is a bird of prey, which belongs to the subclass of the new-palatine, the hawk-like order, the hawk family (Latin Accipitridae).

According to one version, the hawk got its name due to the speed of flight or gaze, since the base "astr" means "fast, sharp, impetuous". Some scholars translate the hawk literally as "a bird with a keen eye or swift, fast flight." According to another version, the name is associated with the food of the bird: just "eats" and ręb "partridge", that is, eating partridges. It is possible that the bird's name mentions its color, since rębъ can be translated as “pockmarked, variegated”.

Types of hawks, photos and names.

Below is the short description several types of hawks.

• Goshawk ( he is big hawk)(lat.Accipiter gentilis) belongs to the genus of true hawks and is the largest representative of its kind. Bird weight varies from 700 g to 1.5 kg. The body length of the hawk is 52-68 cm, and the wing length is 30-38 cm. Females are larger than males. Per big sizes the bird is also called the great hawk. The feathers of the goshawk are short, slightly rounded. The tail is long, also rounded. The plumage of adult birds from above is grayish-brown or gray-brown in color. Underneath, the body is light with transverse brown stripes. Undertail white... The hawk's head is darker. White feathers located above the eyes set off the brow ridge that protects the eyes and looks like an eyebrow. The plumage of females is darker than that of males. Young goshawks are painted brown on top with buffy and whitish spots. Their abdomen is light or buffy with dark longitudinal streaks. Among the goshawks that live in the northeastern regions of Siberia and Kamchatka, there are completely white hawks, some of them may have grayish spots on the back and abdomen. The bird's claws are black, the legs and waxes are yellow, the beak is blue-brown with a black tip, the eyes are yellow-orange, and may have a reddish tint. The goshawk inhabits North America, Europe, North and Central Asia, Russia. On the African continent, it is found in Morocco.

• African goshawk(lat.Accipiter tachiro)- a representative of the genus of real hawks. It is a hardy bird with strong legs and claws. Its body length reaches 36-39 cm. Females are noticeably larger than males. The weight of males is 150-340 g, of females - 270-510 g. The back of the African goshawk has grey colour, in males it is darker than in females. Tail feathers and tail are gray-brown with white stripes. The chest and abdomen are light with reddish-brown streaks. The undertail is white. The paws and eyes are yellow. The wax is greenish-gray. The habitat of the African goshawk includes the central, eastern and southern regions of Africa. The bird lives in the mountains, in the lowlands, in parks and on plantations, it is found in both dry and humid forests.

• Sparrowhawk ( he is small hawk)(lat.Accipiter nisus) inhabits almost all of Europe, except for the north itself, as well as in the northern part of Africa. In Asia, the hawk's habitat covers the southwest of China. In the summer, the Sparrowhawk lives and reproduces almost throughout Russia, with the exception of far north... Sparrowhawks overwinter in the northeastern regions of Africa and in Front, Central and Southeast Asia, on the Arabian Peninsula - in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The sparrowhawk is very similar to its relative, the goshawk, but is much smaller. Because of this, he received the name small hawk. The length of its body is 30-43 cm, and the weight of the hawk reaches 120-280 g. The length of the bird's wing reaches 18-26 cm. The color of these two birds is almost identical: gray or brown plumage at the top, light with transverse stripes below. Only the stripes of the sparrowhawk have a red tint. The bird's undertail is white, the claws are black, the legs and waxes are yellow, the eyes are yellow-orange, and the beak is brownish-bluish. Females, like in previous species, are larger.

• Light hawk(lat.Accipiter novaehollandiae) belongs to the genus of real hawks. It got its name because of its color. But this species has two morphs, or subpopulations: gray and white. The gray morph is characterized by a bluish-gray coloration of the upper back, head and wings. The abdomen is white with darkish transverse stripes. In the white morph, the plumage is completely white. The body length of this species is 44-55 cm, and the wingspan of the hawk varies from 72 to 101 cm. Hawks live in Australia, including the island of Tasmania.

• Dark songhawk(lat.Melierax metabates) belongs to the subfamily Melieraxinae, a genus of song hawks. These birds got their name from the sounds they utter, which have some melody. They have a body length of 38 to 51 cm. The wings and tarsus are slightly longer than those of other hawks, and the fingers are shorter. The color is mainly gray: darker on the back and head, and lighter on the chest and neck. The abdomen is colored in gray and white stripes. The paws of the hawk are red. The dark songhawk lives in sub-Saharan Africa, inhabiting open forests and savannahs.

• Crested hawk(lat.Accipiter trivirgatus) belongs to the genus of real hawks. Inhabits Southeast Asia: the west and southwest of India, the south of China, the islands of Indonesia, the Philippines and Ceylon, the Indochina peninsula. The appearance and color of the bird are typical for representatives of the genus. Body length 30-46 cm. The dorsum and dorsum of the wings are dark, the abdomen is light with characteristic transverse stripes. Distinctive feature crested hawk - crest, or crest, on the lower part of the back of the head.

• European Tuvik ( he is short-legged hawk) (lat.Accipiter brevipes) Is a southern bird representing the genus of true hawks. It has average parameters: body length 30-38 cm, weight from 160 to 220 g, male wing length 21.5 - 22 cm, and female from 23 to 24 cm. The bird's fingers are short. The color of the upper plumage is brownish or slate gray, the bottom is whitish with reddish or reddish-red transverse stripes. Juveniles are distinguished by a more brownish color of the top and stripes. They have a dark longitudinal stripe in the middle of the throat. Short-legged hawks are found in the south of Europe, in the Balkan countries, in the south of Ukraine, in the Crimea, in the south of the European part of Russia, in the Caucasus, in the Transcaucasus, in Asia Minor and Iran. For wintering, Tuvik goes to the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, to Syria, Egypt, to the Arabian Peninsula. In addition to the usual food for hawks, it mainly feeds on frogs and lizards.

• Red hawk (lat.Erythrotriorchis radiatus) Is a bird of prey from the genus of red hawks. It has rather large forms: body length 45-60 cm and wingspan 110-135 cm. The male hawk weighs 635 g, the weight of females reaches 1100-1400 g. The general plumage of the body is reddish with numerous dark streaks. The head and throat are light and covered with black spots. In the coloring of the chest and abdomen, there are both light and brownish-red shades. Females have a lighter abdomen than males. The red hawk is the rarest bird of prey in Australia. It lives in the savannah and in open forest areas in the north and east of Australia, near water bodies. It feeds mainly on birds, including parrots and pigeons.

Taken from the site: laurieross.com.au

Birds are a special kind of warm-blooded animals, characterized by a body covered with feathers and, as a rule, forelegs in the form of wings. This feature allows birds to move in different environments: fly, run on the ground, swim, while developing speeds beyond the strength of many other species of animals.

The fastest of the waterfowl, the penguin swims slowly on the surface of the water, like a duck. But when diving, he develops a speed of 36 km / h, flapping flipper-like wings and lowering and emerging from the water every minute to inhale air. The world champion in swimming among humans swims 6 times slower than a penguin, and the world's fastest warships can reach a speed of 47 knots (87 km / h), ahead of the penguins only 2.4 times.

Top fastest birds in terms of flight speed - movement:

• Falcon Sapsan - 322 km / h
• Berkut - 300 km / h
• Needle-tailed swift - 170 km / h
• Frigates 153 km / h
• Spur goose 142 km / h
• Average Krokhal 129 km / h
• Ostrich - 70 km / h, record 92 km / h
• The penguin swims like a duck, and under water 36 km / h

In those areas of the Earth where a high speed of movement on it is a vital necessity (Africa, Australia, East Asia), ostriches live up to 2.5 m in height and weighing up to 0.15 tons, whose powerful limbs allow you to move in steps of up to 5 m from speed of 70 km / h. The famous Kenyan Noah Ngeni, who ran 1000 m in 2 minutes. 11.96 seconds, in a competition with an ostrich I would be 1 minute behind it. 20 sec.

Birds set the most impressive records in air travel. In this type of movement, the champion in a dive flight is the peregrine falcon, which lives on all continents of the Earth except Antarctica. Not every car can be compared with the peregrine falcon, which develops a speed of 90 m / s, i.e. 322 km / h. Among living creatures, only the black swift can compete with him, 2 times slower flying in a dive flight, but outstripping the falcon in horizontal flight.

Predatory bird golden eagle living in the mountains and forests of 4 continents (Asia, Europe, North America and Europe) is considered the most dangerous of the hawk family. The golden eagle hunts not only birds, hares and rodents, but also cattle (calves, roe deer, deer and sheep), despite the fact that its length does not exceed 0.95 m and its weight is 6.5 kg. The wingspan of the golden eagle reaches 2.2 m, the speed of a dive flight is 300 km / h, which is comparable to the fastest peregrine falcon. Since ancient times, the golden eagle, as an excellent hunter, enjoys human respect.

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Needle-tailed swift lives in the hollows of forest trees in Asia, including the southern part of Siberia and Of the Far East... His diet is small in size and weight own body(length up to 0.2 m, weight up to 0.14 kg) are insects. Therefore, the needle-tailed swift does not need a high speed of diving flight, it is more important for it the speed of horizontal flight, which is the highest speed of all birds in the world of 170 km / h with a wingspan of up to 0.55 m.

All 5 species of the genus of birds frigate live in the tropics and subtropics in areas with reservoirs, over which they spend a long time in soaring flight, looking out for their prey. The main objects of the frigate's hunting are flying fish and fish caught by other aquatic birds, which frigates take away from them. This hunting method is available to frigates, thanks to their physical data: a large body up to 1.14 m long, a weight of up to 1.6 kg, a narrow wingspan of up to 2.44 m and a high flight speed of 153 km / h, which in absolute terms takes 4- e in the world, and second in horizontal flight speed.

Large in size clawed goose up to 1.15 m long and weighing up to 10 kg, it is distributed on the shores of reservoirs south of the Sahara Desert. His diet is quite varied and includes vegetable food(coastal and aquatic), insects (termites, beetles, caterpillars) and small fish. A lot of such food is required to meet the needs of a large bird, it has to be collected from a vast territory, for flying around which the clawed goose is equipped with wingspan up to 2 m and develops a flight speed of 142 km / h, slightly lagging behind the frigate in this indicator.

Waterfowl medium merganser, which is small in size (length up to 0.62 m, weight up to 1.4 kg), lives on the coastal shores of North Asia, Europe and America covered with dense grass. The middle merganser eats aquatic plants, insects, worms, crustaceans, amphibians, but his main food is small fish, for catching which he is able to dive for 0.5 minutes to a depth of 30 m. Extraction of small food also requires the ability to move quickly, with a wingspan of up to 0.86 m the average merganser develops a flight speed of 129 km / h, closing in this indicator the five fastest-flying birds in the world.

High dive the speed of the peregrine falcon developed in connection with his hunting technique: planning high in the sky to find a victim, diving towards it at maximum speed to deliver a powerful blow with limbs pressed to the body. With such a blow, a falcon is able to cut off the head of a victim, for example, a duck or a pigeon, despite the fact that its size is comparable to that of a crow.

Despite its long lifespan, preserving the ability to reproduce throughout its life and easily adapting to any living environment from the hot tropics to the arctic cold, the peregrine falcon, as a result of the use of pesticides and other substances that pollute the atmosphere, has turned into a rare bird listed in the Red Book. In the eastern states of the United States and in many European countries, peregrine falcons have disappeared, in the western states of the United States, their population has declined by 90%. Since the 1970s, ecological programs have allowed the falcon population to be gradually restored. In the Russian Federation, it has reached 3 thousand pairs, a nursery has been created in the Galichya Gora nature reserve. In the United States, peregrine falcons breed in nests on skyscrapers and cathedrals. In Canada and Germany, open-air cages have been set up for raising young animals. In England, the Royal Society for the Protection of Peregrine Falcons and Other Birds functions.

Peregrine falcon among falcons is a large bird up to 0.5 m long, wingspan up to 1.2 m, female weight up to 1.5 kg, male is 2 times smaller. An active predator, the peregrine falcon has hard muscles, a broad chest, sharp claws, large eyes and a sickle-shaped beak with teeth for biting the victim's neck.

The group of the falcon family with a peregrine falcon includes the gyrfalcon, saker falcon, laggar, Mexican and Mediterranean falcons, the evolutionary divergence between them began millions of years ago. When a peregrine falcon is crossed with other representatives of this group in open-air cages, the offspring acquires the qualities of both parents. For example, the descendant of the peregrine falcon and the Mediterranean falcon acquires the stamina of the Mediterranean falcon and the hunting instinct of the peregrine falcon.

The scientific name of the peregrine falcon in European languages ​​comes from the Latin word falco (curved sickle) and peregrinus (wandering) - Falco peregrinus or peregrine falcon (English),. faucon pèlerin (French), falco pellegrino (Italian), wanderfalke (German), pilgrimsfalk (Swedish). The Russian name "peregrine falcon" presumably comes from Kalmyk (real falcon).

Peregrine falcon habitats are most often inaccessible to humans (rocks of the banks of reservoirs and mountains, cliffs of mountain rivers, moss swamps), less often on the roofs of city churches and multi-storey buildings. Peregrine falcons often stay overwintered in permanent place habitat or near it, but in the arctic climate they are able to fly over very long distances. Peregrine falcons carefully guard their territory, displacing even flying eagles and humans from it. Nests are located near water bodies, in crevices of rocks, on bumps of swamps, in tree hollows, sometimes they capture nests in trees, entwined with crows, kites and other birds of prey, in cities on bell towers, chimneys, eaves of high-rise buildings. The female lays eggs in late April or early May, both the female and the male incubate eggs for more than a month. After the birth of chicks, the male obtains food, and the female warms up the offspring. At 1.5 months of age, the chicks begin to fly.

The peregrine falcon's diet includes birds, small mammals, insects and amphibians (sparrows, pigeons, ducks, starlings, bats, hares, squirrels, ground squirrels). The peregrine falcon raises its prey high to the nesting site.

Since ancient times in Mongolia, China, the Middle East, people have used peregrine falcons for falconry. The Egyptian sun god was depicted as a disk with falcon wings or a man with a nightingale's head. In Europe, the falcon began to be used for hunting only in the 3rd century. the elite of society. From the Middle Ages to the 19th century, the coronation of English kings was accompanied by the gift of a pair of peregrine falcons. In Russia, the Khazar nomads made falconry popular. Later, the image of a peregrine falcon appeared in the center of the coat of arms of the Bashkir city of Kumertau, the Russian cities of Sokol and Suzdal. Peregrine falcon symbolism is widely used by many countries: in the name of a motorcycle, a fighter plane and spacecraft in Japan, the name of the high-speed electric train of the Siemens company, the image on the commemorative coin of the US state of Idaho.

Peregrine Falcon, as the absolute champion in the speed of a dive flight, attracts the attention of a person throughout its history.