Gyr Falcon

Encyclopedia : G : GY : GYR : Gyr Falcon

Gyr redirects here. "Gyr" can also be an abbreviation for a gigayear, i.e. a thousand million years.

The Gyr Falcon (Falco rusticolus), also spelled Gyrfalcon (The 'g' is pronounced as "j" in "jar"), is a large bird of prey. This species breeds on Arctic coasts and islands of North America, Europe and Asia. It is mainly resident, but some birds disperse more widely after the breeding season, or in winter.

Its male is sometimes called a Gyrkin or similar and is smaller than the female.

The name comes from French gerfaucon, and is written in mediaeval Latin as gyrofalco. The first part of the word may come from Old High German gîr (= modern German Geier) = "vulture", referring to its size compared to other falcons.

The Gyr Falcon is a bird of tundra and mountains, with cliffs or a few patches of trees. It lays 2-6 eggs on a cliff ledge nest.

Painting of a Greenland white morph

This is the largest falcon, at more than 60cm in length with a wingspan up to 130cm, similar to the Common Buzzard. The female is larger than the male.

This species is like a large Peregrine Falcon in general structure, but broader-winged and longer-tailed than the Peregrine. It usually hunts by horizontal pursuit, rather than the Peregrine's stoop from a height, and takes bird and small mammal prey such as Ptarmigans and lemmings.

In medieval times, the Gyr Falcon was considered the king's bird. Due to its rarity and the difficulties involved in obtaining it, in falconry the bird was generally reserved for kings and nobles. Very seldom was the time when a man of lesser rank could be seen with a Gyrfalcon on his fist.

In falconry Gyr Falcons are very expensive to buy, and thus owners and breeders of gyrfalcons tend to keep them secret to avoid theft. They tend to fly long distances, and falconer may fit a radio-tracker to aid recovery.

Male

Subspecies

Plumage is very variable in this species, although typically adults have slate-grey back and wings, and young birds are browner. Sexes are similar. Greenland Gyr Falcons have white plumage, flecked with grey on the back and wings. Other geographical forms are varying intensities of grey in coloration: the Icelandic form is the palest, and Eurasian forms are considerably darker. Natural separation into regional subspecies is prevented by gyrfalcons' habit of flying long distances taking genes from one population into another. For example, one known mating of a pair of captive gyrfalcons produced a clutch of 4 young: one white, one silver, one brown, one black.

References

BirdLife International (2004). [Falco rusticolus]. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

External links

http://www.falconscanada.com/index.htm
http://www.kentishfalconry.co.uk/

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.