Urban Peregrines

The Peregrine, the fastest bird in the world, has made a remarkable recovery over the past 30 years. As the species re-establishes itself around the world it is becoming a familiar sight in towns and cities. This beautifully illustrated book is the first in-depth focus on the lives of Peregrines in towns and cities. In words and stunning photographs, Ed Drewitt reveals the latest information on Peregrine behaviour including how they are adapting to, and taking advantage of, the urban environment. The book is also a how-to-guide, with information on finding peregrines, studying their diet, ringing individuals for research, putting up nest boxes and enabling people to learn more about them through public viewing points or web cameras. Ed also discusses what makes a Peregrine urban, their contemporary relationship with people, and helps dispel some myths and reveal some truths about this agile predator.

"Published in Association with the Field Museum."

Reaching speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour, the Peregrine Falcon is famous as the world's fastest bird. However, its penchant for choosing inaccessible places to breed, feed and roost mean that few people are well acquainted with its habits and behaviour. This ebook offers a window into that rarely seen world, thanks to a combination of high quality images and beautifully written text, with chapters on subjects such as hunting, raising young and how populations around the world have rallied against the threat of extinction and are now prospering once again. The birds are further brought to life through a series of personal anecdotes from the author and photographers, which are woven into the text. The ebook is part of a series that also includes the titles Barn Owl and Kingfisher.

Peregrine falcons have their share of claims to fame. With a diving speed of over two hundred miles per hour, these birds of prey are the fastest animals on earth or in the sky, and they are now well known for adapting from life on rocky cliffs to a different kind of mountain: modern skyscrapers. But adaptability only helps so much. In 1951, there were no peregrines left in Illinois, for instance, and it looked as if the species would be wiped out entirely in North America. Today, however, peregrines are flourishing. In The Peregrine Returns, Mary Hennen gives wings to this extraordinary conservation success story. Drawing on the beautiful watercolors of Field Museum artist-in-residence Peggy Macnamara and photos by Field Museum research assistant Stephanie Ware, as well as her own decades of work with peregrines, Hennen uses a program in Chicago as a case study for the peregrines’ journey from their devastating decline to the discovery of its cause (a thinning of eggshells caused by a by-product of DDT), through to recovery, revealing how the urban landscape has played an essential role in enabling falcons to return to the wild—and how people are now learning to live in close proximity to these captivating raptors. Both a model for conservation programs across the country and an eye-opening look at the many creatures with which we share our homes, this richly illustrated story is an inspiring example of how urban architecture can serve not only our cities’ human inhabitants, but also their wild ones.

Raptors are an unusual success story of wildness thriving in the heart of our cities—they have developed substantial populations around the world in recent decades. But there are deeper issues around how these birds make their urban homes. New research provides insight into the role of raptors as vital members of the urban ecosystem and future opportunities for protection, management, and environmental education. A cutting-edge synthesis of over two decades of scientific research, Urban Raptors is the first book to offer a complete overview of urban ecosystems in the context of bird-of-prey ecology and conservation. This comprehensive volume examines urban environments, explains why some species adapt to urban areas but others do not, and introduces modern research tools to help in the study of urban raptors. It also delves into climate change adaptation, human-wildlife conflict, and the unique risks birds of prey face in urban areas before concluding with real-world wildlife management case studies and suggestions for future research and conservation efforts. Boal and Dykstra have compiled the go-to single source of information on urban birds of prey. Among researchers, urban green space planners, wildlife management agencies, birders, and informed citizens alike, Urban Raptors will foster a greater understanding of birds of prey and an increased willingness to accommodate them as important members, not intruders, of our cities.

The book is intended for a non-scientific audience but does contain previously unpublished information, tables, and graphs plus an extensive literature cited section and a bibliography for Eastern and Midwestern Peregrine restoration publications from 1971-2000.