List of Animals of The Rocky Mountains - Fauna - Birds - Peregrine Falcons

Peregrine Falcons

Peregrine falcons are cliff-dwelling raptors that once ranged through most of North America. Like the bald eagle, this species was driven to near extinction by pesticides. By 1965 fewer than 20 breeding pairs were known west of the Great Plains. Even in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, federal spruce budworm control relied on DDT, which accumulates in the food chain, causing eggshell thinning and reduced reproductive success in raptors. Six breeding pairs of American peregrine falcons were found in Colorado in the early 1970s. By 1994, 53 pairs were breeding in Colorado. In Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho combined, 8 of 59 historical sites were used by falcons in 1987. Low breeding densities, reproductive isolation, habitat loss, and pesticide poisoning on wintering grounds remain threats to peregrine falcon recovery.