The fastest sprinting bird on earth

The fastest sprinting bird on earth is the peregrine falcon. The Peregrine Falcon is a medium-sized raptor belonging to the family Falconidae and the genus Falcon. It is the national bird of the United Arab Emirates and Angola. The Peregrine Falcon usually does not fly very fast, with a speed of only 50-100 kilometers per hour, but it is the fastest swooping bird, reaching a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour. The peregrine falcon's ability to swoop to hunt is not innate, so it also has the rare behavior of teaching young birds hunting skills in nature.

The peregrine falcon has a ferocious temperament and dares to attack even golden eagles, gyrfalcons, buzzards, etc. that are much larger than it, but the motive is often to defend the nest and territory. Because it mainly hunts in the air, it needs faster speeds than other raptors, so it has a relatively large weight, narrow wings that can reduce drag like a high-speed aircraft, and relatively short tail feathers.

The peregrine falcon spends most of its time flying and hunting in the air. When it finds prey, it first quickly rises into the sky to occupy the commanding heights, then folds its wings so that the flight feathers on the wings are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body, and its head shrinks to the shoulders. At a speed of 75-100 meters per second, it swoops down from a high altitude almost vertically. When approaching the prey, it spreads its wings slightly and uses the impact of the high-speed dive to hit the prey hard with its hind toes or grab the prey with its sharp dagger-like claws, causing injury or immediate death. Anyone who has actually seen a peregrine falcon hunting will definitely have an unforgettable experience. Finally, it takes the prey to a more hidden place, holds it down with its feet, strips off the feathers with its beak, then tears it into small pieces and swallows it. Sometimes they also hunt on the ground. In order to adapt to this hunting method, its tarsometatarsus became short and thick, and its toes for grasping prey also became thin and long.

Peregrine falcons actually only hunt birds in flight. However, like many other falcons, they also hunt large insects in flight, such as beetles, and also eat bats and rodents. The male is smaller and captures prey ranging in size from chickadees to jays and even doves. The female is fatter and larger and catches prey ranging in size from blackbirds to wood pigeons. They also capture ducks and even geese and herons, but these captures are very specialized, and northern peregrine falcons are fatter and do not need to carry their prey back to the cliffs on their migration routes, which are generally eaten on the spot. It mainly preys on small and medium-sized birds such as wild ducks, gulls, doves and pigeons, crows and chickens, and occasionally small mammals such as rats and hares.

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