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By Pam Owen
Special to the Rappahannock News
The lightning speed and distinctive markings of the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) have captured the imagination of humans for centuries and made it the supreme choice of falconers. If you’ve never seen this magnificent bird in flight, you may get the chance, thanks to a program in Shenandoah National Park that is reintroducing this species to the Virginia mountains.
In the 1950s and 1960s, due to widespread use of DDT and other persistent organochlorine pesticides, the number of peregrine falcons in the United States plummeted dramatically. By 1975, the entire population of peregrines in the eastern United States was considered to be wiped out.
After the chemicals that led to its near-extinction were virtually banned by 1972, the peregrine began to make a strong recovery, partly because of restoration programs such as the one in the park. In 1999, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally removed the peregrine from the federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife. However, it is still considered a threatened species in many states, including Virginia.
The peregrine’s bold markings—bluish upper parts, black cap, black moustaches below the eye, white chin, and buff-colored underparts barred with brown—gives it a striking appearance. However, the peregrine is not just a beauty queen; no other bird species is on record as matching its speed and maneuverability during a hunting flight. It is “nature’s perfect aerodynamic performer,” as one of its biographers put it. In going after its prey—generally smaller birds—peregrines will circle high above before making a near-vertical dive (“stoop”), folding their wings closely to
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