Peregrine Falcon (1 Viewer)

[jrcollins]

Just interested to know if a Peregrine Falcon has ever been sighted in New Zealand. I'm not aware of any such sightings from the small amount of research I've done which is somewhat surprising considering they are found pretty much everywhere else except NZ, are known to migrate long distances and are relatively common in Australia.

 

[foresttwitcher]

A quote from this forum's Opus entry for Peregrine: "Almost worldwide - the most widely distributed bird of any, absent only from New Zealand and polar regions".

 

[jrcollins]

Yes, but that doesn't rule out potential sightings of vagrant birds. There are a number of species which are not naturally occurring in NZ and yet are occasionally sighted and sometimes only very rarely.

 

[foresttwitcher]

ebird has no recorded sightings of Peregrine in NZ.

 

[Patudo]

Interesting question. The closest peregrines are in Aus - and apparently the Australian subspecies (macropus) don't migrate or disperse widely. Migratory peregrines from Siberia and North Asia apparently do reach Australia, but it would be a long step for them to cross the Tasman. Maybe a careful search around concentrations of migratory waders might turn one up - but it might be a long wait.