Peale's falcon (''Falco peregrinus pealei'') is a subspecies of the

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey ( raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey ...

. This race was first identified by the

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

Robert Ridgway Robert Ridgway (July 2, 1850 – March 25, 1929) was an American ornithologist specializing in systematics. He was appointed in 1880 by Spencer Fullerton Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to be the first full-time curator of bird ...

in 1873, named in honor of Titian Ramsay Peale. These birds are the largest subspecies of peregrines (on average) anywhere in the world.

Description

Measurements for male ''F. p. pealei'' are as follows: length , wingspan , wing chord . For females: length , wingspan , wing chord Wheeler, Brian K. 2003 ''Raptors of Western North America.'' Princeton University Press. pp.467. Weight range for male ''F. p. pealei'' are , averaging ; females range , averaging .Bebee, F. L. 1960. The marine peregrines of the Northwest Pacific Coast. ''Condor.'' 62: 145-189. The adults are generally identified by the presence of heavy horizontal barring across their abdomen, large "tear-drop" shaped markings on their breast (more pronounced in the females) extending up into the auriculars, a white, smokey-white, or grayish background color on the breast (as opposed to the

salmon Salmon () is the common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of ...

to orangish background color on most other subspecies), very broad malar stripe to a full dark cap, and wider, stronger

mandibles In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone ...

than is commonly seen in the species as a whole. Immature birds are overall very dark, with little to no buff-colored edging to the feathers of the mantle, nearly completely dark heads,