Collectively, the range of the three North American subspecies once occupied most of the continent with absences throughout much of the Canadian prairies, northern Ontario, Quebec and the southeastern United States. Today, the distribution of naturally breeding Peregrine Falcons that have not been reintroduced is restricted to the western cordillera north to Alaska including the coast, the Canadian Territories, and the tundra regions. Wintering birds can be found throughout North America but resident populations are restricted largely to the northwestern coastline.
Worldwide, there are from 19 to 22 races recognized but only 3 occur in North America. The distribution for this subspecies is as follows.
Historically this race occupied the tundra areas of northern Alaska and the Canadian arctic east to Greenland north to about 70 degrees. Similar population declines to P. f. anatum caused a restriction of the breeding range within this northern distribution. Population increases will not likely change the known historical range. Tundrius populations are highly migratory, wintering from the extreme southern United States south to Chile and Argentina.
MIGRATION
Of the three North American races, pealei is the only one that is essentially resident and does not migrate, although recent evidence suggests that some individuals move southwards along the west coast as far as California. Tundrius is highly migratory, leaving the high arctic and moving as far as South America, overflying resident populations of anatum that remain in the southern portions of their range. Enroute to the southern United States, the more northerly populations of anatum also appear to overfly birds that remain in portions of the range. Perhaps due to the problems associated with distinguishing all individuals of the three races in the field, migration studies have not speculated upon differences in migration timing, patterns or routes between the various races. Most banding studies refer only to geographic origins of birds without speculation about which races are involved. Much of the following discussion relates to tundrius and anatum but makes no attempts to distinguish them, so comments apply interchangeably unless otherwise noted. Some writers feel that the majority of birds seen on migration are of the tundrius form.
Post-breeding migrants from the northern populations reach southern Canada from mid-August through early September with the bulk of migrants passing the mid-United States east coast from about September 20 through October 20. Along the Appalachian Mountains, the fall migration extends from mid-August through mid-November, peaking in late September and early October. Along the west coast, autumn migration begins about mid-August and is well underway by mid-September with a peak at the latitude of Washington state during the first 10 days of October. This compares favorably with peaks along the eastern seaboard in Maryland and Virginia. Peak movements in California occur during late October and early November. Banding returns indicate that some immature pealei move from British Columbia at least as far south as California and perhaps Baja. Both F. p. tundrius and F. p. anatum move south from Alaska and some use a coastal route but the phenomenon is not well understood. The preferred route for most individuals of these races appears to be inland through Washington.
The Gulf coast of Texas is a fall staging area for races other than pealei with birds building up from late September through the first half of October. Most have passed by November 8. Migrant tundra birds from North America are in South America from early November to about the end of March.
Fall migration routes have a very strong south or southeasterly trend as birds move to the eastern seaboard or Gulf coast of the United States. Individuals banded in Alaska and many other points eastward in the Canadian north have shown strong tendencies to move to the east coast between southern New York and Virginia and then following a southwesterly route to the Gulf coast or perhaps departing the southern mainland and moving over water to the Caribbean Islands and beyond to South America. Other birds banded in Alaska and similar places in northern Canada appear to follow inland routes that take them more directly to the Texas Gulf coast and then southwards through central America to their ultimate destination. In addition to this southeasterly tendency, some tundrius and anatum birds from Alaska move directly south along the Alaska-British Columbia coast or inland across British Columbia converging in the Pacific Northwest region of Washington and southern British Columbia. Some may winter here or carry on coastally or inland to southern California. Some juvenile pealei birds follow a coastal route to southern California as well.
The spring migration of Peregrines is undoubtedly underway during March at southern latitudes with a heavy movement along the Gulf coast during April and May. Birds arrive in southern Canada as early as mid-April in some years with the heaviest movement in central Alberta being from May 4 to 23. In southern Ontario, the usual peak is April 15 to May 5. Arrival on the northern Alaskan breeding grounds is probably after mid-May but Yukon birds are somewhat earlier. A spring movement along the west coast through Washington State occurs from late March through early May. The peak is likely in April, coinciding with the major movement of shorebirds along the coast.
Spring migration routes are not as well known or defined as the fall routes. The Texas coast near Padre Island is a major spring staging area during April as birds are thought to be following the middle-American stem from South America. At Padre Island, the Gulf coast turns eastward which competes with the preferred direction for migrants. Routes to northern breeding grounds are felt to be fairly direct with the eastern seaboard not experiencing the concentrations of falcons that occurs during the fall. A significant portion of the northern breeding population of Peregrines is felt to utilize this relatively small area of south Texas and northeastern Mexico.
#Which species has this range?;question\Q12\Q12.wav
