High above my village, looms the granite ledges of Devils Slide, massive in looks, dangerous to all who would attempt to climb them. Soaring through the sky above the cliffs you can see the graceful, powerful, magnificent Peregrine Falcons. Existence of this great bird was questionable for the past four decades.
The adult birds have a majestic black-gray back and hood
with black bars on their bellies.
Fourteen to eighteen inches in length. Their wingspan 46 inches. The female is larger and stronger than the
male. She is given the name FALCON. The male Peregrine is referred to as a Tiercel.
The Peregrine hunts by diving at its prey at speeds that
can approach, and sometimes surpass, 200 miles per hour. The prey is usually killed on impact. If it should survive,
the Peregrine will break its neck with a quick strike of its notched beak to the bird’s spine.
In New Hampshire over the past 17 years, a total of 119 wild-hatched peregrine chicks have fledged, and breeding pairs have produced an average of 1.37 young per nesting pair. Biologists and climbers visited all six successful aeries and banded all 16 young in 1997.
