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| Prairie falcon patient. Note the head shape. |
In a Minnesota city and its suburbs, it would not be surprising to
see a falcon maneuvering around the urban landscape. Peregrine falcons, merlins, and American
kestrels have all adapted to make these areas their homes. However, the falcon that was found in an
intersection in Duluth, Minnesota last week was not any of these species; it was a young
female prairie falcon, presumably pushed east by a group of storms that had
recently rocked the state. Instead of
her natural habitat of arid and semi-arid plains in western and southern states,
she found herself in an intersection in a relatively large city in northeastern
Minnesota. She was unable to fly due to a dislocated collarbone and was taken to
Wildwoods Rehabilitation Center in Duluth for supportive care before being transported
to TRC.
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| Note the absence of barring on the central tail feathers. |
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Young peregrine falcon head. Note the
rounded appearance. |
In addition to her collarbone injury, she was a little thin
and dehydrated, but her spirit didn’t falter. Her enthusiasm for food became
quite apparent and she has settled in nicely to her convalescent
enclosure. Over the course of the next
few weeks, she will receive physical therapy twice weekly to prevent her wing
joints from stiffening as she heals, and will be given a varied diet of mammal
and bird species. Unlike peregrine
falcons, prairie falcons eat rodents as well as birds; in the wild,
Richardson’s ground squirrels are commonly preyed upon by prairie falcons.
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Tail feathers of a wild adult peregrine.
Note the uniform barring across all 12. |
There are a few characteristics that distinguish peregrine
and prairie falcons in the hand.
Prairie
falcons have flat, blocky heads, as opposed to more rounded heads of peregrines,
and their plumage, even as a hatch year bird, is paler brown than the rich dark
brown color of most young peregrines in the Midwest.
The feature that is the most definitive
though, is the central two tail feathers.
In peregrines all the tail feathers are marked with bars, but prairie
falcons have two central tail feathers that are solid in color while all the
others are barred.
This is true for both
a prairie falcon’s juvenile and adult plumage.
Both prairie and peregrine falcons have size difference
between the sexes.
Females are a third larger than males for both species. This
prairie falcon patient is unquestionably a female due to her size and weight.
This bird came to our care because humans wanted to help raptors.
We are
grateful for the
help and support for all of our clinic patients, which we could
not assist without you.
