Peregrine falcons are more numerous in North America after several years of recuperative release programs by various organizations. The Saskatchewan Cooperative Falcon Project (SCFP) contributed significantly to the international endeavor that improved the status of Falco peregrinus anatum from "endangered" to "threatened". From 1978 to 1992, the SCFP released approximately 100 fledgling peregrines in Saskatchewan (Pat Thompson, pers. comm). The young falcons were "hacked out" (methodically reared and released by humans) in Saskatoon, Regina, and one wilderness area. Human intervention included sheltering, feeding, managing, rescuing and rehabilitating project wards until, as "passagers" (first passage migrants), they dispersed. Project fledglings rarely had adult role models to learn from even though, occasionally, a subadult "tercel" (male falcon) would interact and even attempt adopt the hack juveniles.

In Regina, after rearing under vigilant human supervision, passagers left in late summer and early fall with little or no hunting experience (Author, pers. comm). This was consistent with reports and studies from other hack sites and the SCFP anticipated a 50 to 60 percent mortality rate for first winter migrants (Pat Thompson, pers. comm.). After migrating and wandering for one to three years, some survivors eventually returned to their hack sites while others possibly went elsewhere to breed. Approximately 2% of Regina's hacked fledglings died within city limits. One adult female was found dead in the city - a suspected victim of pigeon poisoning.

In 1985, A Bird Finding Guide to the Regina Area (Adam, Riffel, Luterbach and Kreba), published by the Saskatchewan Natural History Society, listed the peregrine falcon as transient or migrant. At least four adult peregrines have since become summer residents in Regina, and at least three of them became successful breeders in the city. Three of the breeders (tercel: black band - 3D, female: red band - 8B3, and tercel: red band - 1 over 2) came from Manitoba. They fledged under the auspices of the highly successful Falcon Recovery Program (Dr. Robert W. Nero, pers. comm.). After seven years of introduction efforts by the SCFP, the wanderers from Manitoba introduced themselves to the "Queen City" of the plains. Currently, tercel: black band - reclining 6 over 5 has arrived to breed in Regina. This bird is a four year old wild hatch from Saskatoon that was found with an injured wing after leaving the nest. It was rehabilitated by SCFP Coordinator and experienced falconer, Pat Thompson. (P. Thompson, per. comm.) The author has confirmed the origin of reclining 6 over 5 by video taping the bird's uncolored aluminum Fish and Wildlife band.

Red leg bands with white characters signify Canadian captive breeding. Black leg bands with white characters signify Canadian non-captive or "wild" breeding. The term 'wild' denotes only an absence of human intervention in procreation. Hatching on cliffs or buildings is irrelevant to band color designation.

Each spring from 1988 to 1993, a miscellany of migrant peregrines was observed in downtown Regina. With the aid of binoculars and spotting scopes, twenty individuals were estimated during the six-year period. Each bird was distinguishable by leg bands or variations in facial patterns and body plumage. The migrants included males and females of both the anatum and tundrius subspecies. (Only anatum was released in North American projects.) Less than half of all the migrants observed in Regina were banded.

When at least ten migrants briefly visited Regina in the spring of 1989, hints of the species' ability to prey on a wide variety of birds became evident. Eventually, summer residents and breeders brought substantial amounts of diverse quarry to downtown cache and feeding sites.

The author, a volunteer falcon hack and nest technician for the SCFP since 1986, has documented a total of forty-seven peregrine prey species in downtown Regina (Table 1). Peregrine quarry remains were periodically identified, photographed, and (or) collected during routine surveillance and periodic searches.

Occasionally, with the aid of a spotting scope, prey was identified while it was in an inaccessible location, or even in a falcon's grasp. To avoid pressuring peregrines into hunting excessively, minimal quarry was collected and comparable portions of Coturnix Quail, farmed by the SCFP at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, were often substituted where quarry was confiscated.

Dr. Paul James and Robert Kreba, from the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (formerly the Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History), assisted in the identification of prey remains and photos. Some of the remains were compared to study skins in the museum's ornithology collection. A few intact specimens were donated to the collection.

City nesting Merlins, Kestrels, Swainson's Hawks, Long-eared Owls, and Great-horned Owls were similarly investigated throughout Regina, but no evidence of quarry caching was observed in these 5 species. Discarded prey remains found near each nest were claimed by scavengers and detritivores.

Merlins (Falco columbarius) typically nest in vacant crows nests in spruce trees. They've nested yearly in Regina since 1981, and the author has visited up to 16 nest sites per season, finding prey remains of House Sparrows, various small and likely passerines, and pigeons.

Kestrels are well known for hunting insects, small rodents and small birds. One or two pairs of Falco sparverius nest in Regina almost every year.

The surprising and alarmingly defensive Swainson's Hawks that have nested in Regina littered city streets with "gopher" heads, among other things. Buteo Swainsonii imported Richardson's Groundsquirrels into pleasant residential areas from neighboring fields, storm channels, railway beds, the Lewvan junction at Saskatchewan Drive, and even the Albert Street overpass. Grasshoppers, mice and small birds also occur in the diet of this raptor. Long-eared Owls have nested in Regina at least twice. They feed mostly on small rodents.

Regina's furtive Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) stalk Rock Doves (pigeons) and White-tailed Jack Rabbits (hares) with formidable efficiency. Large pellet casts are often acid faded, pigeon feather gray in color. The author found an aluminum banded, smooth, clean pigeon tarso metatarsus in one pellet. Pellets of undigested hare and small mammal remains are less common.

Of all Peregrine Falcon quarry listed in Table 1, pigeons account for 18%. The inveterate population of urban Rock Doves, however, seems unaffected by predation from Common Crows, Merlins, Great Horned Owls, Snowy Owls, and human persecution. It is also notable that this abundant resource was rarely exploited by downtown peregrines before 3D arrived.

Sora rails registered an intriguing 6% of all quarry on the list. Most of the rails, including the Virginia and Yellow, were fall immatures.

Eared Grebes tallied to 12% of the listed quarry. In total, Eared, Horned, and Pied-billed Grebes account for 20%.

The grebes and rails weren't all taken in a single vicinity, as peregrines embarked on sorties in all directions from the city center. They vanished from telescopic view as they cruised over open countryside, often returning with prey one or two hours later.

In September of 1992, Bob Kreba (pers. comm.) saw Regina's first pair of breeding peregrines, '3D' and '8B3', hunting together over the "Cement Plant Slough" (a favorite spot for birders just north east of Regina). He used the term "strafing runs" to describe how the falcons flushed game. Although a kill was not observed, it is conceivable that a startled rail could expose itself to this type of predation as it lifts out of vegetation like a delicate little helicopter.

Grebes and coots attempting to fly from open water may also be vulnerable to strafing peregrines. Entire groups of waterfowl tend to flush up in front of the marauders. Often, however, peregrines simply pluck unaware individuals from the water's surface (Pat Thompson, pers. comm.). The sustained harrying of submerging individuals is plausible, but peregrines observed by the author have seldom demonstrated prolonged and exertive interest in evasive quarry.

Similar tactical strafing over open terrain and shores is indicated by several listed species, such as the Snow Bunting, Western Meadow Lark, Upland Sandpipers, and the diverse array of shorebirds that total to 18% of the list.

The peregrine's famed power dive, or "stoop", may seem ideal for hunting game in the concrete kingdom, but it is likely more for show. In the many plummeting dives witnessed downtown by the author, only one resulted in a fallen Rock Dove, and even then, it was a man on the street who claimed the stricken bird.

Young peregrines, observed by the author, experimented with power dives by stooping after flying insects, each other, and other birds. One summer, a young hacked female circled and soared high above the city with the leg of a project quail in her talons. Sailing in a breeze without flapping her wings, she hovered briefly and manipulated the quail leg with her feet. She then dropped it and watched it fall a short distance before stooping down to catch it. She next used her momentum to carry herself back upward. After soaring in circles again, she hovered, dropped the leg, and stooped to retrieve it like before.

The falcon repeated this behavior often within twenty minutes of elapsed time. She dropped the leg from progressively higher altitudes until, as a tiny speck in the author's binoculars, she sailed away in giant circles. Footing prey, stooping, and sailing efficiently had become her newest, self-mastered skills.

The more experienced '3D' once plummeted from the roof of Regina's 25 story Ramada (now Delta) Hotel. He leveled off at a mere meter above the top of Sears Parkade, which is two stories high and just across the street from the hotel. Streaking northwest, he just missed a startled House Sparrow that was fluttering southeast. The tercel, in hot pursuit, flared in an astonishing hairpin and nearly completed a tight, horizontal figure eight. He desisted after flipping over twice within the figure and narrowly missing the sparrow that many times more. 3D's demonstration of speed and agility inspires the author to fathom how a White-breasted Nuthatch, Swainson's Thrush, Brown Thrasher, Red-eyed Vireo, Magnolia Warbler, two Lincoln's Sparrows, and four House Sparrows became items in Table 1.

Routinely, however, peregrines hunt in the same manner that merlins do. They use calculated sneak attacks, and short, aggressive pursuits. Both species, when hunting pigeons for example, conceal their approach, rush into calm communal roosts, and try to seize an individual by surprise, or overtake one in a brief chase. If this fails, a peregrine or merlin will often charge into other nearby roosts. As more and more of pigeons fly up, the falcon forgoes stealth and flushes all it can, testing the many for an individual that is somehow disadvantaged.

The sight of dozens of pigeons getting spooked into flight by a marauding falcon is common throughout the city. It is often difficult to spot the raptor in all the action, though, even when it is unconcerned with stealth. Merlins have turned this exercise into a year round spectacle, although peregrines tend to limit the activities of smaller falcons in the city center from April to September.

Table 1, compiled largely in 1992 and 1993, reveals amply that peregrine prey selection in the Regina area is highly diverse. This indicates that the raptor's predacious impact on specific local bird populations is relatively low. With a varied diet, and adaptable hunting abilities, the species is unlikely to limit its food supply or suffer shortages. This favors future peregrine breeding success which began in the city in 1992.