Editing Peregrine falcon (section)

==Description==
[[File:Peregrine falcon (Australia).JPG|thumb|left|''Falco peregrinus''. [[Royal National Park]], [[New South Wales]], Australia]]
The peregrine falcon has a body length of {{cvt|34|to(-)|58|cm}} and a wingspan from {{cvt|74|to(-)|120|cm|}}.<ref name=White94/><ref name=Potter2002/> The male and female have similar markings and [[plumage]] but, as with many [[birds of prey]], the peregrine falcon displays marked [[sexual dimorphism]] in size, with the female measuring up to 30% larger than the male.<ref name=Scholz/> Males weigh {{cvt|330|to(-)|1000|g}} and the noticeably larger females weigh {{cvt|700|to(-)|1500|g}}. In most subspecies, males weigh less than {{cvt|700|g}} and females weigh more than {{cvt|800|g}}, and cases of females weighing about 50% more than their male breeding mates are not uncommon.<ref name=Snow1998/><ref name=CRC/><ref name=Whiteetal2002/> The standard linear measurements of peregrines are: the [[Wing chord (biology)|wing chord]] measures {{cvt|26.5|to(-)|39|cm}}, the tail measures {{cvt|13|to(-)|19|cm}} and the tarsus measures {{cvt|4.5|to(-)|5.6|cm}}.<ref name=Ferguson-Lees2001/>
[[File:Peregrine Falcon La Cañada.jpg | thumb | right | Shows the appearance of Peregrine Falcon]]

The back and the long pointed wings of the adult are usually bluish black to slate grey with indistinct darker barring (see "Subspecies" [[#species|below]]); the wingtips are black.<ref name=Potter2002/> The white to rusty underparts are barred with thin clean bands of dark brown or black.<ref name=Ferguson-Lees2001/> The tail, coloured like the back but with thin clean bars, is long, narrow, and rounded at the end with a black tip and a white band at the very end. The top of the head and a "moustache" along the cheeks are black, contrasting sharply with the pale sides of the neck and white throat.<ref name=Terres1991/> The [[cere]] is yellow, as are the feet, and the [[beak]] and [[claw]]s are black.<ref name=Beckstead2001/> The upper beak is notched near the tip, an [[adaptation (biology)|adaptation]] which enables falcons to kill prey by severing the [[Cervical vertebrae|spinal column]] at the neck.<ref name=White94/><ref name=Snow1998/><ref name=USFWS/> An immature bird is much browner, with streaked, rather than barred, underparts, and has a pale bluish cere and orbital ring.<ref name=White94/>

A study shows that their black [[cheek|malar stripe]] exists to reduce [[glare (vision)|glare]] from [[solar irradiance|solar radiation]], allowing them to see better. Photos from [[Macaulay Library|The Macaulay Library]] and [[iNaturalist]] showed that the malar stripe is thicker where there is more solar radiation.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Vrettos|first1=Michelle|last2=Reynolds|first2=Chevonne|last3=Amar|first3=Arjun|title=Malar stripe size and prominence in peregrine falcons vary positively with solar radiation: support for the solar glare hypothesis|journal=Biology Letters|year=2021 |volume=17|issue=6|pages=20210116|doi=10.1098/rsbl.2021.0116|pmc=8169203|pmid=34062086}}</ref> That supports the solar glare hypothesis.