The first-ever hatching of a peregrine falcon, the largest domestic falcon, has been found in the Wolsztyn Forest Inspectorate. It is another pair of these species in the area of the Regional Directorate of State Forests (RDLP) in Zielona Góra that has a nestling.
The nest was located by a local supervisory engineer, who has been working with the species for years. From the three laid eggs, one young male called “Walsztyniak” hatched at the beginning of May and will soon leave his family nest.
Peregrine falcons, like all other falcon species, are unable to build nests on their own. Therefore, it takes nests built by ravens, white-tailed eagles and buzzards in order to hatch.
Peregrine falcons hunt only birds. It usually catches them in very fast horizontal flight or its characteristic hunting stoop (high-speed dive). The measured maximum speeds of peregrine falcons have reached over 350 km/h. For this reason, it has been called the king of the skies for centuries. Wolsztyn’s falcons hunt middle-sized birds such as thrushes, starlings, jays and pigeons.
The founding nest with a hatch is the first nest of this species in the region of Wielkopolska in over 60 years. In the last century falcon nesting in buzzard’s nest has been noted only twice in Poland: in 1933 near Rydzyna near Leszno in 2019 in Nidzica Forest Inspectorate (RDSF Olsztyn).