Autumn migration and wintering areas of Peregrine Falcons Falco peregrinus nesting on the Kola Peninsula, northern Russia

Abstract

Four female Peregrine Falcons Falco peregrinus breeding on the Kola Peninsula, Russia, were fitted with satellite‐received transmitters in 1994. Their breeding home ranges averaged 1175 (sd = ±714) km2, and overlapped considerably. All left their breeding grounds in September and migrated generally south‐west along the Baltic Sea. The mean travel rate for three falcons was 190 km/day. Two Falcons wintered on the coasts of France and in southern Spain, which were, respectively, 2909 and 4262 km from their breeding sites. Data on migration routes suggested that Falcons took a near‐direct route to the wintering areas. No prolonged stopovers were apparent. The 90% minimum convex polygon winter range of a bird that migrated to Spain encompassed 213 km2 (n = 54). The area of the 50% minimum convex polygon was 21.5 km2 (n = 29). Data from this study agree with others from North America that show that Falcons breeding in a single area do not necessarily follow the same migratory path southward and do not necessarily use the same wintering grounds.