Sirrocco's StorySpecies: Peregrine Falcon
Hatched: Unknown
Sirrocco is a captive bred bird who came to us from another facility. In 1996, he was working at Scott Air Force Base as part of the Bird Air Strike Hazard program (B.A.S.H.). This program saves many lives every year by using falcons to deter other birds from flying in the vicinity of airfields, thereby preventing midair plane/bird collisions.
That year, while chasing a dove that flew toward a chain link fence, he was unable to veer off in time and collided with the fence, breaking both wingtips. At first it was thought that he would never fly again. However, after his wings healed one of our dedicated staff membersactually taught him to fly again, and he joined the BASH group at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. Unfortunately, it soon became clear tht he would never be able to manuever well enough to resume his air force career. He was returned to WBS to join our office of Wildlife Learning and began a new career as an education bird. When he's not traveling throughout the country with our education staff as an ambassador for his species, he can be found in the weathering area behind the Visitor Information Center at WBS headquarters in Valley Park, Missouri.
To adopt Sirrocco, simply click our donation button, make a donation of $100 and specify in your payment notes: Adopt-a-bird: SIRROCCO. Also include your name, phone number, and mailing address so that we can send you your adoption materials!
Every donation helps to feed, house, and provide medical care for the bird of your choice! Adopt-A-Bird Parents receive:
- A personal visit with the bird you adopt!!!!! Call 636-861-3225 to set up a time for
- your personal visit.
- Certificate of Adoption
- Color photo of the bird you've adopted
- Sponsorship Card
- One year's subscription to Mews News (our quarterly newsletter)
- Life History and Natural History of the bird
- 10% Discount off WBS merchandise
- Invitation to Sponsors-only events like Camera Day
- Discounts on WBS Special Events
- WBS Decal
Natural History
peregrine falcon
Falco peregrinus
Description: large falcon; short tail; pointed wing tips; slate-gray above; black helmet on head; whitish neck; buff beneath; lightly barred breast; wing tips almost reach tail tip when perched; regional variations exist (very dark in the northwest to pale in the north
Sex: females have more brown than males
Age: juveniles are a dark buff color with heavy streaking underneath
Length: 16-20”
Wingspan: 3-3.7’
Weight: 1.6 lbs.
Habitat: open country, cliffs, cities
Status: once found across all of North America until pesticides such as DDT eliminated eastern populations, almost to extinction; pesticide banning and captive-breeding programs have helped with their recovery; seen year-round in the US, but uncommon to rare in the winter
Behavior: don’t build nests; lay 2-4 reddish, darker flecked eggs in cliff hollows; bare rocky outcrops, bridges or tall building ledges; 28 day incubation period by both parents; chicks leave the nest at 5-6 weeks; hunts by flying very fast and making dramatic swoops to catch prey in midair
Diet: small birds, large insects, small mammals
Vocalization: rapid “kek kek kek kek”, repeated “we chew” at nest
√ World Bird Sanctuary’s reintroduction program put over 300 peregrines back into Missouri’s wild
√ Peregrines are the fastest animals on earth and have been clocked diving at 287 mph
√ Three subspecies exist: pacific (Peale’s), tundra and the interior west.
Adopt A Bird profiles are written and photographed by Gay Schroer.
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