Of Hawkeyes and Bird Binoculars
The eyes of hawks and falcons are located in the front of the head, giving the birds binocular vision and enabling them to judge distance.
Pictured left is a peregrine falcon. The peregrine falcon is a slate gray, crow-size raptor that can reach speeds of up to 200 mph and nests only on the ledges of cliffs, bridges and tall buildings. Pesticide Raptor Syndrome had so negatively impacted the species that by the 1960s the peregrine falcon population dwindled almost to the point of extinction and the peregrine falcon won the dubious distinction of becoming one of the first birds listed as endangered.
In recent years the bird has made a wonderful recovery, with 1,650 breeding pairs recorded in 1999, although the species remains on the Commonwealth’s Endangered Species list. WPC’s Peregrine Recovery Program protects two of the few active nest sites in Pennsylvania and the only sites documented in western Pennsylvania.