Falco peregrinus

Cosmopolitan distribution has led to naming of circa 75 subspecies, many of these on flimsy grounds, and majority no longer accepted (White et al. 2020). Nineteen subspecies are recognized by White et al. (2020) following White et al. (1994b); 3 within North America: F. p. anatum, F. p. pealei, and F. p. tundrius. Genetic study of North American races indicated that, although pealei is genetically well differentiated, individuals of anatum and tundrius are inseparable genetically (see Brown et al. 2007). This finding suggests that tundrius perhaps should be subsumed within anatum, although more definitive research findings are needed before doing so (White et al. 2020). DNA microsatellite analysis of population genetic structure showed that samples of 3 North American subspecies were no more genetically distinct from each other than populations of nominate F. p. peregrinus from n. and s. Sweden (Nesje et al. 2000) (White et al. 2020).

F. peregrinoides, a North African and Asiatic desert-adapted taxon, is considered a race of the cosmopolitan peregrine by some taxonomists. South American F. kreyenborgi is a color morph of F. peregrinus (AOU 1983, McNutt 1984). See Olsen et al. (1989) for a study of relationships within the genus Falco based on electrophoretic patterns of feather proteins.

Widespread, with increasing populations in many areas. Since the early 1970s, captive breeding and reintroduction programs have had some success in North America, and reproductive failure due to pesticide contamination has been reduced so that it is no longer a serious threat in most areas. Populations in North America have recovered in some areas and are increasing in most other areas. Populations increasing in northern Eurasia.

Nearly cosmopolitan; breeds on every continent except Antarctica; absent from high mountains, desert regions of Africa, Asia, and Australia, and from most tropical forests; occasionally reaches Hawaii. In North America, much recovery of populations has occurred, but the large area extending from the western Cascades of Oregon and Washington to the eastern slope of the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming and Montana and north into the southern provinces of Canada still was largely unoccupied in the early 1990s (The Peregrine Fund 1992).

See GABUNDCOM.

Threats include loss of wetland habitat of primary prey, poachers robbing nests, shooting by hunters, and food chain contamination from use of persistent pesticides. Pesticide-caused reproductive failure now apparently is rare or absent in northern populations, though organochlorine levels in the environment are still high in some areas (e.g., New Mexico, Hubbard and Schmitt 1988; see also Peakall 1990; see Banasch et al. 1992 for information on contaminants in prey in Panama, Venezuela, and Mexico). Court (1993) studied the eggs of F. p. anatum in Alberta, Canada between 1983 and 1992, and found that high DDE levels still occurred in some eggs, and that 28 percent of the eggs were still thinner than critical thicknesses considered essential for successful reproduction.

Also, eggshell thickness in New Jersey declined in the 1980s, suggesting that falcons continue to be exposed to environmental contaminants (Steidl et al. 1991). Reintroduced populations in some areas of the eastern U.S. (e.g., barrier islands of the mid-Atlantic states) may be threatened by increasing human disturbance and use of nesting habitat (Byrd and Johnston 1991).