Species: Falco rusticolus

Gyrfalcon
Species
    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Craniata
    Class

    Aves

    Order

    Falconiformes

    Family

    Falconidae

    Genus

    Falco

    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.
    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
    64
    Weight
    2100
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G5
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    1996-11-22
    Global Status Last Changed
    1996-11-22
    Conservation Status Map
    <img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=__&CA.BC=S3&CA.LB=S3&CA.MB=__&CA.NB=__&CA.NF=__&CA.NT=S4&CA.NS=__&CA.NU=SNR&CA.ON=__&CA.PE=__&CA.QC=S4&CA.SK=__&CA.YT=S4&US.AK=S4&US.CO=__&US.ID=__&US.ME=__&US.MI=__&US.MN=__&US.MT=__&US.NE=__&US.NJ=__&US.NY=__&US.SD=__&US.WA=__&US.WI=__" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
    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
    H
    Global Range Description
    >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102763