Peregrine falcon:

For many years peregrine falcons have nested on the roof of our office building. The juvenile falcon shown on our office ledge hatched here.

Although peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) belong to the most wide-spread bird species of the world, they are very rare in our area, the Upper Austrian alpen foothills.

They have a wingspan of over 100 cm (40 inches), weigh up to 1300 g (3 pounds) and are regarded as the fastest bird of the world (over 200 km/h – 124 mph!) Here their favourite meal is pigeon which they catch in free and often extremely rapid flight.