By Staff
I normally try to keep this column's topics confined to things we here in Michiana can relate to. Every so often, though, it's fun to wander over the horizon. A recent TV program documenting a pair of gyrfalcons compels me to take such a venture this week.
I've been interested in birds since I was a wee lad and for as long as I can remember the one that I have revered the most is the gyrfalcon. I suppose my early fascination stemmed from the mystique surrounding this most elite of all birds.
For eons it has been the bird of noble royalty prized by exotic Eastern kings and emperors even more than gold. Painted pictures in bird books of sleek, silvery-white, gyrfalcons in statuesque poses fueled my imagination as did their home in the farthest reaches of the Arctic so unimaginably remote I would surely never go there.
Well, sometimes life deals out some wonderful cards for those willing to play the hand and I have made it to the Arctic several times. The most recent was a couple months ago when my son and I drove Alaska's Dalton Highway following the oil pipeline to Prudhoe Bay. The magnificent Brooks Range was hours behind us and we were cruising across the vast North Slope tundra. There were so many caribou that they had become ho-hum and we'd even seen enough musk-ox to slightly diminish that thrill.
The endless miles of featureless tundra had lulled me into an almost hypnotic state when out of the corner of my eye I caught a flash of white in the air. It was a large bird and as it banked away from us the signature sleek, pointed-wing form of a falcon was unmistakable. With nothing for reference it's hard to judge distance out on the tundra so I wasn't sure of the bird's size but there's only one snow white falcon in the world, the gyrfalcon. In just seconds the fast flying bird was swallowed up by vastness but in those few fleeting moments I had finally met The King.
The gyrfalcon is, indeed, the king of the raptors. The largest of all falcons, its four foot wingspan equals the size of the biggest hawks.
Unlike the lumbering hawks, though, the gyrfalcon is fast, agile and strong. It feeds on birds and mammals from tiny songbirds and lemmings to marmots and geese up to three times the gyrfalcons weight. At one time hunting swans with falcons was an obsession amongst Far East royalty and only the gyrfalcon was up to the task. One Chinese emperor even imposed a tax to be paid, not in cash, but in gyrfalcons. Falconry is still practiced today by a select few both here and abroad and the gyrfalcon is at the very top of the elite list.
Falconers seldom use wild caught gyrfalcons. Due to their remote, far north habitat wild birds are rarely exposed to disease so have weak immune systems. When brought into captivity most soon die. Most tame gyrfalcons have been in captivity for generations where they have become more disease resistant.
Though we envision the gyrfalcon in its most portrayed white phase, they vary greatly in color. Even within the same brood they can range from snow white to silver to dark gray. In the dark phases it can be confused with the Arctic peregrine falcon which shares the same habitat though the gyrfalcon is noticeably larger.
The range of the gyrfalcon circles the Arctic coasts and islands around the globe though in the Middle and Far East they range much farther south, as far as North Africa. Here in North America on rare winter occasions a few may wander as far south as the northernmost States but most remain far north of the Arctic Circle year around.
They nest almost exclusively on cliff faces so not just any patch of tundra will do, there must be a steep faced bluff. Due to the harsh, fickle conditions of their homeland gyrfalcons have never been plentiful and today I'm glad to hear they are holding their own. Most populations remain equal to or above historic numbers. Carpe diem.