Species: Falco rusticolus

Gyrfalcon

Species

Birds

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Terrestrial vertebrates: birds

Salish Sea-reliant birds

Species of concern in the Salish Sea

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Falconiformes

Family

Falconidae

Genus

Falco

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102763

Classification

Other Global Common Names

faucon gerfaut

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Raptors

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Falconiformes - Falconidae - Falco - FALCO GYRFALCO is a synonym (Banks and Browning 1995). See Olsen et al. (1989) for a study of relationships within the genus FALCO based on electrophoretic patterns of feather proteins.

Ecology and Life History

Migration

true - true - true - Overwinters as far north as available prey allows. Many individuals, especially those from the high arctic, migrate south for winter (especially juveniles and prebreeders); migrant females arrive on breeding areas mid-February to early March (Cade 1982). Satellite telemetry has documented migrations between Alaska and eastern Asia (Britten et al. 1995).

Non-migrant

true

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Diet mostly consists of birds (especially ptarmigans which make up 85-95% of their diet by weight, although other birds of prey, ducks, auks, gulls, and terns are locally important). Small mammals are important in some areas and to young birds (Cade 1982). Primary prey in central Canadian arctic: rock ptarmigan, arctic ground squirrel, and arctic hare (Poole and Boag 1988). Takes most prey from the ground rather than from the air. See Palmer (1988) for many details.

Reproduction Comments

Pair-bonds form over 6-8 weeks before egg laying (April-early May or into June). Clutch size most commonly is 3-4. Incubation lasts about 5 weeks (but 44 days also reported), mainly by female, which broods young 10 days, then aids in food provision until fledging at 7-8 weeks (late June to mid-Aug. in Beaufort Sea area). Young are dependent for another month or more. First breeds probably at 2 years.

Ecology Comments

Distance between nest sites was 3-38 km in northern Alaska; average of 10.4 km for inland sites in Greenland, minimum of 15 km for coastal sites in Greenland. Hunted up to 12-15 km from aerie in interior Alaska (see Palmer 1988).

Length

Weight

2100

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-11-22

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-22

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - Holarctic. BREEDS: in Alaska (see Johnson and Herter [1989] for details), northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, northern Scandinavia, northern Russia, and northern Siberia. WINTERS: south to mid-Europe, Japan, southern Canada, and irregularly to the northern coterminous U.S.

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102763