Identification

Hatchlings

Summit and Grisou, 2002. Photo © Mark Nash

  • Chicks weigh 35–40 g (1.2–1.4 oz.) and are covered with whitish down when they hatch.
  • They have about half their feathers by the time they are 30 days old.
  • They are almost fully feathered, with patches of down, by day 35.

Juveniles

Odyssey, 2006. Photo © Adrian Buss

  • Fledged juveniles are the same size and shape as adults but their upperparts vary in colour from slate grey to chocolate brown.
  • Their crowns are pale, and they have a dark stripe extending below each eye.
  • Underparts are buffy with dark streaks.
  • The bill is blue-grey, darker at tip, but by fledging is close to the adult colour.
  • The legs and feet are bluish-grey in eastern birds.

Adults

Diana, 2010. Photo © Chris Traynor

  • By their second year, Peregrine Falcons are bluish-grey on top, and have a distinctive black facial line, called a malar stripe, extending down from the eye.
  • Underparts are pale, with variable amounts of blackish or dark brown spotting and barring.
  • The undersides of the wings and tail are barred pale gray and black.
  • The legs, feet, eye rings and the base of the beak are yellow; the rest of the bill is black.