The Project > Ask the Peregrine Chick

Keeping Track of Bands

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Kinderchick:

--- Quote from: The Peregrine Chick on May 17, 2012, 18:37 ---...Peregrines can drink water, but they both adults and chicks get their moisture requirements from their food...

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For anyone who feeds their pets a raw food diet, this is similar. My cats can drink water if they choose to but usually do not because, like peregrine falcons, they receive their moisture requirements from their raw food. And raw food is certainly what peregrine falcons eat. ;)

The Peregrine Chick:

--- Quote from: RaptorGal on May 17, 2012, 16:28 ---TPC, with it being hot outside and the peregrin parents panting to cool themselves, I have a question about dehydration.  Do these birds drink water or do they get enough liquid from the blood found in their prey?  And what about the little eyases?

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Peregrines can drink water, but they both adults and chicks get their moisture requirements from their food.  The chicks are alot cooler than their parents - despite what it looks like, their feathers are quite sparse, so they can cool down quickly - all they need is a little shade under their parents.  At this stage they are still unable to thermoregulate, so Princess or Ivy will be with them at all times - if not on or right beside them, then just outside camera view.

Its warm outside but not really hot per se, or at least not as hot as it will be for the West Winnipeg or Brandon birds when their chicks hatch.  What makes it tough for the adults is that the feathers on their back are dark so they can heat up.  The only way they can cool down is to get into the shade or panting.  Since they can't leave the chicks, panting is their only option.  They also drop their wings and angle their bodies to catch whatever breeze may be available - it flows over the chicks and over the adult's breast and that helps some.

RaptorGal:
TPC, with it being hot outside and the peregrin parents panting to cool themselves, I have a question about dehydration.  Do these birds drink water or do they get enough liquid from the blood found in their prey?  And what about the little eyases?

SusanE:
TPC, your input is always beyond helpful.  You are so knowledgeable and so generous with that knowledge.  Thank you so much!

The Peregrine Chick:
Couple of notes on your findings ...

1.  Only way to be sure of subspecies is genetically even though they have ranges - there are anatum and anatum/tundrius crosses that nest in the tundrius range and I dare say there are probably a couple of tundrius that have nested down south.  So the band colours are assumptions on subspecies based on location caught and banded.  And yes there are "differences" between the peregrines but there is such a range between birds in each subspecies that without the genetics, one can't be sure, its just a best guess.  Having said that, most of the folks banding birds are very accomplished so their best guess is pretty darn good!

2.  Anatum subspecies peregrines are the traditional subspecies in the continental US and in Canada south of the treeline, excluding the small ranges of the non-migratory pealei along the west coast.  Having said that, in the US pretty much all peregrines in captivity were pressed into the recovery breeding programs so there are lots of other subspecies genes in the US and through dispersal into Canada.  The result is that lots of peregrine populations - Saskatchewan west through Canada and the USA are not pure anatum, however they are probably mostly anatum.  The number of birds that don't migrate in the winter in the USA these days could be a indication of these other subspecies but its hard to know without genetically mapping birds that migrate and those that don't.  Given that before the crash anatum peregrines migrated, the reasons behind many not migrating is interesting, maybe just a trend based on availability of prey or the heat island effect or something else entirely.

3.  Just to amend your list, black, black/green and black/red are all anatum birds - the Eastern US birds are anatums or presumed to be.  Red - these are anatum birds as well, the reintroduction program was just for anatum birds.  The tundrius birds were never endangered and there wasn't a breeding program for/with the subspecies specifically.  Undoubtedly, there are tundrius genes in the Canada/US meta-population but the breeding/reintroduction program was for anatum birds in the anatum's traditional range.

Hope this helps

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