A Peregrine Falcon Glossary
Away – flying hard with wings beating |
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Bird of Prey – a bird that will primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds |
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Bobbing – Jerky head movement |
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Cache – the birds food larder, where prey is stored |
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Casting – a regurgitated pellet of feathers, fur and bones that the bird cannot digest |
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Cere – waxy structure at the base of the bill (often In raptors, the cere is a sexual signal which indicates the “quality” of the bird) |
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Clutch – a set of eggs |
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Chupping – a conversational call between mates |
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Crop – The birds gullet where food is stored prior to digestion |
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DDT – abbreviation for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, DDT is an insecticide that can pass up the food chain from insects to small birds, and then from the small birds to birds of prey, like falcons. It can accumulate in the birds of prey, giving them a large amount of DDT. Concentrations of DDT in birds causes weakness and thinning of their eggs, and reduces their population. DDT is now banned because of this |
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Eyas/Eyasses – a newly hatched, unfledged falcon(s) |
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Eyrie – the nest of a bird of prey, usually located high on a cliff |
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Feaking – wiping of the bill after feeding |
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Fledgling – a young bird that has just left the eyrie, after fully getting its flight feathers |
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Immature – an eyass still to moult |
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Incubation – sitting on eggs to keep them warm and in a condition where they will later hatch. This also involves rotating the eggs |
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Mantling – spreading wings over a recent kill to conceal it from other birds and predators who would be potential thieves. |
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Mute – Faeces, usually white in colour |
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Nares – the birds nostirils |
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Nest Relief – an adult bird taking over the incubation duties from the other mate |
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Orbital ring – The coloured fleshy part that surrounds the eye |
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Pluming – plucking its prey or ‘kill’ |
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Predator – an animal or bird that kills another as a source of food |
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Primaries – long feathers on edges of wing (usually 10 on each wing) |
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Prey – animal taken by a predator as food source |
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Put in – to alight upon cliff or perch |
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Ring up – to climb in tight circles to gain height to hunt (using thermals) |
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Scrape – the hollow in which a peregrine will lay it’s eggs; scrapes may be made at several potential ledges before one is finally chosen for laying. Peregrines do not build a nest, but rather lay their eggs in such a scrape, although they will occasionally occupy a ravens stick nest |
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Stoop – a high speed dive from a height (normal after prey) |
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Talon – sharp claw of the falcon |
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Tiercel – Male Peregrine |
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Quarry – general term that is used to describe prey |
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Warble – a form of wing stretching |
This is a list of words commonly used by birders or falconers describing the bird and its habits – not necessarily a comprehensive list of all terms,
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