I was looking at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation website and noted the description of the 3 sub-species of peregrines in North America. I was wondering if they interbreed and which one(s) our local pairs fall into.
There are three subspecies of
Falco peregrinus in North America (there are 19 accepted subspecies world-wide)
F p anatum - this is the mid-continent subspecies - their range is from the tree line south to Mexico, they overwinter from Mexico to Venezuela. This is our subspecies
F p tundrius - these are the Tundra Peregrines and they nest from the edge of the treeline north and they overwinter in Chile - a transmittered tundra is currently on her northward migration and just left Honduras - she's flow close to 8,000km so far and she's just barely half way back to her nesting area on Baffin Island
F p pealei - these are the Peale's Peregrines and they are virtually non-migratory in comparison with the anatum and tundrius - the along the coast of the northwest - Washington State, BC and into Alaska including the Aleutian and Commander Islands.
