Editing Peregrine falcon (section)

===Reproduction===
[[File:Faucon pelerin 7 mai.jpg|thumb|right|At nest, France]]
[[File:Falco peregrinus MWNH 0671.JPG|thumb|Egg, [[Museum Wiesbaden]]]]
The peregrine falcon is sexually mature at one to three years of age, but in larger populations they breed after two to three years of age. A pair [[mates for life]] and returns to the same nesting spot annually. The courtship flight includes a mix of aerial acrobatics, precise spirals, and steep dives.<ref name=Potter2002/> The male passes prey it has caught to the female in mid-air. To make this possible, the female actually flies upside-down to receive the food from the male's talons.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

During the breeding season, the peregrine falcon is territorial; nesting pairs are usually more than {{convert|1|km|mi|abbr=on}} apart, and often much farther, even in areas with large numbers of pairs.<ref name=Blood2001/> The distance between nests ensures sufficient food supply for pairs and their chicks. Within a breeding territory, a pair may have several nesting ledges; the number used by a pair can vary from one or two up to seven in a 16-year period.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

The peregrine falcon nests in a scrape, normally on cliff edges.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kaufman |first1=Kenn |title=Peregrine Falcon |url=https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/peregrine-falcon |website=[[Audubon (magazine)|Audubon]] |date=13 November 2014 |publisher=National Audubon Society |access-date=12 June 2019}}</ref> The female chooses a nest site, where she scrapes a shallow hollow in the loose soil, sand, gravel, or dead vegetation in which to lay eggs. No nest materials are added.<ref name=Potter2002/> Cliff nests are generally located under an overhang, on ledges with vegetation. South-facing sites are favoured.<ref name=Terres1991/> In some regions, as in parts of [[Australia]] and on the west coast of northern North America, large tree hollows are used for nesting. Before the demise of most European peregrines, a large population of peregrines in central and western Europe used the disused nests of other large birds.<ref name=Beckstead2001/> In remote, undisturbed areas such as the Arctic, steep slopes and even low rocks and mounds may be used as nest sites. In many parts of its range, peregrines now also nest regularly on tall buildings or bridges; these human-made structures used for breeding closely resemble the natural cliff ledges that the peregrine prefers for its nesting locations.<ref name=White94/><ref name=Blood2001/>

The pair defends the chosen nest site against other peregrines, and often against [[raven]]s, [[heron]]s, and [[gull]]s, and if ground-nesting, also such mammals as [[fox]]es, [[wolverine]]s, [[felid]]s, [[bear]]s, [[wolf|wolves]], and [[mountain lion]]s.<ref name=Blood2001/> Both nests and (less frequently) adults are predated by larger-bodied raptorial birds like [[eagle]]s, large [[Horned owl|owls]], or [[gyrfalcon]]s. The most serious predators of peregrine nests in North America and Europe are the [[great horned owl]] and the [[Eurasian eagle-owl]]. When reintroductions have been attempted for peregrines, the most serious impediments were these two species of owls routinely picking off nestlings, fledglings and adults by night.<ref name=Walton1988/><ref name=Brambilla2006/> Peregrines defending their nests have managed to kill raptors as large as [[golden eagle]]s and [[bald eagle]]s (both of which they normally avoid as potential predators) that have come too close to the nest by ambushing them in a full stoop.<ref name=bna2/> In one instance, when a [[snowy owl]] killed a newly fledged peregrine, the larger owl was in turn killed by a stooping peregrine parent.<ref name=Voous1988/>

The date of egg-laying varies according to locality, but is generally from February to March in the [[Northern Hemisphere]], and from July to August in the [[Southern Hemisphere]], although the Australian subspecies ''F. p. macropus'' may breed as late as November, and [[equator]]ial populations may nest anytime between June and December. If the eggs are lost early in the nesting season, the female usually lays another clutch, although this is extremely rare in the Arctic due to the short summer season. Generally three to four eggs, but sometimes as few as one or as many as five, are laid in the scrape.<ref name=Peterson/> The eggs are white to buff with red or brown markings.<ref name=Peterson/> They are incubated for 29 to 33 days, mainly by the female,<ref name=Terres1991/> with the male also helping with the incubation of the eggs during the day, but only the female incubating them at night. The average number of young found in nests is 2.5, and the average number that fledge is about 1.5, due to the occasional production of infertile eggs and various natural losses of nestlings.<ref name=White94/><ref name=Wisconsin/><ref name=Michigan/>

After hatching, the chicks (called "{{linktext|eyas}}es"<ref name=raptorresource/>) are covered with creamy-white down and have disproportionately large feet.<ref name=Blood2001/> The male (called the "{{linktext|tiercel}}") and the female (simply called the "falcon") both leave the nest to gather prey to feed the young.<ref name=Wisconsin/> The hunting territory of the parents can extend a radius of {{convert|19|to|24|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the nest site.<ref name=Towry1987/> Chicks [[fledge]] 42 to 46 days after hatching, and remain dependent on their parents for up to two months.<ref name=Snow1998/>