Hunting Tactics of Peregrines and other Falcons 12+

📘 There is a foreword and abstract in Dutch (as well as English versions) and chapter 15 is also in Dutch with an English abstract. This dissertation describes the foraging habits and capture rates of four species of bird-hunting falcons; Peregrine (Falco peregrinus), Merlin (Falco columbarius), Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), and Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus). Eight of the nine study areas were situated in western Canada in widely different habitats, and the observation periods intermittently included all seasons over 44 years, 1965-2008. The various chapters report and compare the location-specific hunting methods and choice of prey of these falcons in the following scenarios: (1) Migrating Peregrines hunting waterbirds at Beaverhills Lake, a large wetland in central Alberta; (2) Migrating Peregrines and Merlins capturing small shore-birds and passerines at Beaverhills Lake; (3) Breeding Peregrines that launched their hunts from the high chimneys of an industrial powerplant by a large Alberta lake and selectively took gulls; (4) Marine Peregrines nesting on Pacific island cliffs and preying on seabirds; (5) Peregrines and other raptors hunting wintering Dunlins (Calidris alpina) and ducks at Boundary Bay on the Pacific coast of British Columbia; (6) Peregrines specializing on teal and American Wigeon (Anas Americana) wintering on coastal farmlands; (7) Territorial pairs of Peregrines and Prairie Falcons competing for prey and nest sites on a sympatric breeding range along an...