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How big are they?
They are about 2 feet long. If their wings were spread out,
they would stretch to about 4 to 4 feet wide. |
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How many eggs do they
lay?
Females lay between 3 and 6 light yellow eggs once a year. The
eggs hatch in 5 weeks. |
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How long do the
fledglings stay in the nest?
They like to make their nests in holes or ledges in the rock of
a mountain. They like places where there is a ‘roof’ of rock to
keep them dry. Sometimes they will use stick nests that were
made by other birds. The young birds leave the nest in about 7
to 8 weeks. |
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When do they hunt?
They hunt during the day. (diurnal) |
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What do they eat?
They like to eat grouse which is a wild bird that is like a
chicken. Gyrfalcons also eat ground squirrels and lemmings
which are |
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Where do they live?
Gyrfalcons live in Canada, the United States, Mexico, China,
Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and Finland. They like Arctic
areas. |
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What kind of place do
they like to live in?
They like swamps, treeless plains, areas with pine trees,
mountains, and by bodies of water. They like to be in places
that are away from people. |
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Interesting facts:
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They fly up to 130 miles per hour when catching prey. |
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In the Middle Ages, the king was the only person allowed
to hunt with the Gyrfalcon. Nowadays, in parts of the
Arctic, the numbers are going down because the young
birds are taken away to use for falconry. |
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Sometimes they will save dead prey until they need it to
eat later. |
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Gyrfalcons
catch their prey, take it back to the nest, bite
off its head, pull all its feathers out (if it’s a
bird), and then eat the body. YUCK!
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