The falcon

📖 In short

The falcon is a fast, strong bird of prey with sharp eyes, a hooked beak and powerful talons. Falcons live on every continent except Antarctica, and are related to eagles, kites and vultures. Arabs have trained falcons to help them hunt since long ago.

🤩 Did you know?

In most kinds of falcon the female is bigger than the male.
Most falcon eggs hatch after 30 to 35 days of incubation.
Young falcons leave the nest after about 30 to 60 days.
The peregrine falcon is the fastest animal in the world when it dives from the sky, at more than 300 kilometers an hour!

🔎 Find out more

🌟 A hunter from the sky

A falcon soars high or perches on a tall branch watching the ground, and if it sees a mouse, a rabbit or a small bird, it dives down at great speed and grabs it with its talons.

🔍 Eyes like binoculars

A falcon sees faraway things much more clearly than we do, as if it had binoculars in its eyes. So it can spot tiny prey from far away.

💡 Falconry among the Arabs

Falconry is an old Arab tradition: the falconer raises a falcon and trains it to hunt and then return to his hand. He puts a small leather hood over its head to keep it calm.

🎯 Family and nest

Falcons build their nests high in trees or on tall rocks. The female sits on the eggs for about a month, then both parents feed the chicks until they grow up and leave the nest.