NatureServe Status

Other Statuses

NatureServe Global Conservation Status Factors

Range Extent: >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
Range Extent Comments: Nearly cosmopolitan; breeds on every continent except Antarctica; absent from high mountains, desert regions of Africa, Asia, and Australia, and from most tropical forests; occasionally reaches Hawaii. In North America, much recovery of populations has occurred, but the large area extending from the western Cascades of Oregon and Washington to the eastern slope of the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming and Montana and north into the southern provinces of Canada still was largely unoccupied in the early 1990s (The Peregrine Fund 1992).

Number of Occurrences: 81 to >300
Number of Occurrences Comments: See GABUNDCOM.

Population Size: 10,000 to >1,000,000 individuals
Population Size Comments: Rangewide estimates not available. Subspecies CALIDUS: breeding poulation across northern Eurasia has been estimated at 3652 territorial pairs (95% confidence interval 2282 to 5018 pairs) (Quinn and Kokorev 2000). North America: In the early 1990s, the North American population totaled several thousand breeding pairs, including about 700 known territorial pairs in the coterminous U.S. (estimated total about 890 pairs). Subspecies PEALEI: An estimated 600 breeding pairs are believed to occur in Alaska (Ambrose et al. 1988) and an additional 100 pairs in British Columbia (Munro 1988). Subspecies ANATUM: In 1998, there were at least 193 breeding pairs in the eastern United States, 32 in the midwest, 535 in the western region, and 269 in the Pacific coast region (USFWS 1999). In Alaska, there are a minimum of 301 breeding pairs (USFWS 1999). In Canada, 319 breeding pairs were located in 1995 (USFWS 1999). Mexico has not been surveyed adequately, but at least 70 nest sites were occupied there in the late 1980s and early 1990s (USFWS 1999). Subspecies TUNDRIUS: In Greenland, there were approximately 1000-2000 breeding pairs in the early 1990s (Mattox, in USFWS 1993). Alaskan nesting population was estimated at 200-250 pairs in the early 1990s. Additional pairs in the Northwest Territories and elsewhere bring the total up to probably several thousand breeding pairs.

Overall Threat Impact Comments: Threats include loss of wetland habitat of primary prey, poachers robbing nests, shooting by hunters, and food chain contamination from use of persistent pesticides. Pesticide-caused reproductive failure now apparently is rare or absent in northern populations, though organochlorine levels in the environment are still high in some areas (e.g., New Mexico, Hubbard and Schmitt 1988; see also Peakall 1990; see Banasch et al. 1992 for information on contaminants in prey in Panama, Venezuela, and Mexico). Court (1993) studied the eggs of F. p. anatum in Alberta, Canada between 1983 and 1992, and found that high DDE levels still occurred in some eggs, and that 28 percent of the eggs were still thinner than critical thicknesses considered essential for successful reproduction.

Also, eggshell thickness in New Jersey declined in the 1980s, suggesting that falcons continue to be exposed to environmental contaminants (Steidl et al. 1991). Reintroduced populations in some areas of the eastern U.S. (e.g., barrier islands of the mid-Atlantic states) may be threatened by increasing human disturbance and use of nesting habitat (Byrd and Johnston 1991).

Short-term Trend: Increase of >10%
Short-term Trend Comments: Populations in the Northern Hemisphere declined drastically from the 1940s to the 1970s due to DDT and its breakdown products, notably DDE, in the environment. During the 1930s and 1940s there were at least 200 breeding pairs in the eastern United States. By the mid-1960s these were all inactive (U.S. Fish and Wildlife 1993). Populations were reduced by an estimated 80-90% in the western U.S. by the mid-1970s; the decline in Alaska probably was no more than 50% (The Peregrine Fund 1992). Populations have been recovering, aided by reintroductions in some areas. In the early 1980s, continent-wide population was stable, but local increases and declines were continuing (see White et al. [1990] for 1980 status in specific areas). See also Cade et al. (1988) and Palmer (1988). Eastern U.S. population was about 210 active nests and 350 pairs in the 1930s and 1940s; population dropped to zero breeders by the mid-1960s, largely the result of eggshell thinning caused by pesticide and PCB poisoning. Populations increased after U.S. DDT ban and initiation of reintroduction efforts. Populations in Alaska, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories evidently have recovered. In interior Alaska, numbers increased about 3-fold from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s; pesticide levels have been decreasing and in the early 1990s were well below levels at which reproduction is impaired. Populations increased from 1985 to 1990 in the Yukon Territory, but full occupancy of the historic range had not yet occurred. Populations in the Mackenzie River valley increased from 1985 to 1990, but little is known of population trends in the boreal forest east of the Mackenzie valley (USFWS 1991). Subspecies TUNDRIUS: In the Northwest Territories, populations are stable or increasing in all surveyed areas (e.g., see Shank et al. 1993); some organochlorine contamination remains, but falcons are reproducing well. In Quebec, breeding performance and habitat occupancy have increased greatly since the 1970s. Overall, in Canada, populations are stable or increasing (Holroyd and Banasch 1995), and there is a continuing danger of organochlorine contamination (Bromley, 1992 COSEWIC report). In Greenland, habitat occupancy had increased to about 90% in 1990 (USFWS 1991). See USFWS (1993) for additional documentation of the recovery of this subspecies. In Alaska, the number of pairs of subspecies ANATUM and TUNDRIUS both have more than doubled in some areas, without the aid of releases (The Peregrine Fund 1992). Censuses indicate that subspecies TUNDRIUS throughout its range (USFWS 1994) and subspecies ANATUM in Alaska and the Yukon and Northwest Territories have recovered. A significant increase was recorded in migration counts in northeastern North America, 1972-1987 (Titus and Fuller 1990). With the exception of the central and western prairie provinces, reported to have recovered throughout much of Canada (The Peregrine Fund 1992). Stable or increasing in northern and western Canada; numbers remain low in southern Canada (Murphy 1990); subspecies PEALEI (breeds along British Columbia and Alaska coasts) and subspecies TUNDRIUS (breeds in arctic, winters in Latin America) seem secure (Peakall 1990). The Peregrine Fund (1992) recommended that the peregrine, including both subspecies in Alaska be delisted in all western states except Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming (where a change to Threatened status was recommended). Subspecies CALIDUS: Declined in northern Eurasia during period of intensive organochlorine pesticide use, but now increasing (Quinn and Kokorev 2000).

Other NatureServe Conservation Status Information

Protection Needs: Continue efforts to protect birds from environmental contaminants.

Zoological data developed by NatureServe and its network of natural heritage programs (see Local Programs) and other contributors and cooperators (see Sources).