Text size

E-mail this column

Falcon guys on the Kivalliq

Horseshoe Nails & Bowhead Whales
with Bill Gawor
Guest columnist
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Previous columns 

Every spring without fail, the region of Kivalliq is invaded by hordes of peregrine falcons.

Right on their tails are the falcon guys, who, for about the past 25 years, have been monitoring the peregrine population in the Rankin region since the DDT crises first put the bird on the endangered species list.

Why, of all the places in the world, does the peregrine choose Kivalliq as the best place to rear its young?

It seems the wide-open spaces of the tundra are ideal hunting grounds for a dive-bombing bird that exceeds 240 km/h in its signature swoop. This is at least twice the speed of the fastball pitcher Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks let loose that smoked a seagull back in 2001!

And Johnson is number two on Major League Baseball's all-time career strikeout list.

Imagine what damage a 900-gram peregrine can do with a dive from thousands of feet up.

Most of the falcon's kills consist of small birds (64 per cent) and lemmings (25 per cent), of which there are usually no shortage on the tundra.

Larger prey like old-squaw ducks, guillemots (pitseolaks) and young siksiks are also taken on occasion.

For most of us, having a direct experience with falcons in the wild is not very likely.

Nevertheless, it's still quite interesting to chat with the falcon guys. A good portion of them are practising falconers and have amazing tales to pass along - not the least of which are their unusual experiences studying falcon nesting sites in urban settings, like under iron bridge struts, for example.

Since an open umbrella makes a good defence against an attacking peregrine, one must remember to always first notify the authorities before climbing out on a bridge.

Otherwise the cops will be there in a hurry, preventing a jumper from trying to pull a Mary Poppins.