Peregrine Falcons of the World

Description:

Brings together the lifetime experiences of the authors with this splendid falcon in the field and in museums, hundreds of personal accounts by Peregrine observers worldwide, a vast literature, scores of superb photographic images, and the art of Andrew Ellis. The goal is to provide a feel for how Peregrines have responded to their varied world, and to identify the many gaps in our knowledge.

In recent times, roughly twenty subspecies of Peregrines have been described. The historical reasons for these designations, and current analyses are provided here. Some populations are very distinct in form and color, but sometimes they geographically overlap and intergrades appear. Each subspecies account also describes distribution, hunting and nesting habitats, migration and wintering ranges, estimated population sizes, and conservation aspects.

Present day Peregrines appear in at least a score of populations experiencing different degrees of isolation and undergoing different rates of divergence. The challenge in understanding their relationships is sometimes made greater by the lack of information, or of specimens, from vast regions where neighboring subspecies apparently come together because no obvious barrier exists.