|
Canadian Platinum Honors Falcon, Duck
 | By Dennis G. Rainey, World Coin News
March 30, 2009 |
Beginning in 1990 with the polar bear and ending in 2003 with the walrus, the Royal Canadian Mint has issued annual sets of four platinum coins in $30, $75, $150 and $300 denominations honoring Canadian wildlife. Animals honored are: polar bear, snowy owl, cougar, Arctic fox, sea otter, Canadian lynx, peregrine falcon, bison, grey wolf, muskox, pronghorn, harlequin duck, great blue heron and walrus. I would like to tell you about the 1996 peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) and the 2001 harlequin duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) in this column.
Peregrine falcon coins are $30 (KM 278), $75 (KM 279), $150 (KM 280) and $300 (KM 281). The peregrine falcon was formerly called the "duck hawk" in the United States. The name "peregrinus" is Latin for "wanderer," referring to the long migrations of some populations. The French name is "faucon pèlerin."
Peregrine falcon
The peregrine falcon has been the favorite of falconers for at least 3,000 years and has a great deal of mystique about it. To falconers, the female is called merely "falcon," and the smaller male peregrine is called "tiercel." In practice, however, falconers call any falcon species male a tiercel. Tiercel is from "tertius," meaning "third." It refers to an ancient belief that only one in three eggs hatched is a male.
The peregrine is approximately crow-sized. Falcons differ from hawks in being smaller, having long pointed wings and smaller heads. Peregrines are capable of flying with great speed, up to 200 miles per hour in a dive ("stoop") to capture flying prey.
The world distribution of this falcon is easy to describe. With the exception of Antarctica, Iceland and New Zealand it is found on all continents and too many islands to name that support animal life, i.e., it is nearly cosmopolitan. It has the greatest north/south distribution (tundras, Falkland Islands, Tierra del Fuego, Tasmania) of any other bird. Or, put another way, it has the largest natural range of any avian species.
There are numerous geographic varieties (subspecies), and a recent major reference lists 16 subspecies with three nesting in North America. These are F. p. anatum south of the tundra in most of North America and most migrate to Central America in winter; F. p. tundrius in the tundra and arctic islands of North America to Greenland and all migrate south to Peru and Chile in winter; and F. p. pealei in Commander Islands across Aleutians to Alaska and western coastal North America to British Columbia, only partially migratory south to Oregon in winter.
The prey of peregrines are mainly birds (up to 99 percent). Kinds of prey vary depending on the region. In cities they feed mainly on pigeons, doves and starlings. In some places bats are important in their diet. In Canada they feed mainly on ancient murrelets (seabird) in British Columbia, on black guillemots (seabird) and small mammals in Labrador, on shorebirds and lemmings on west shore of Hudson's Bay and on numerous kinds of wetland birds (gulls, terns, grebes, flickers, ducks, etc.) in southern Canada.
Peregrines have never been abundant, and in the 1930s there were 500 breeding pairs in eastern United States and 1,000 pairs in western U.S. and Mexico. Starting in the late 1940s peregrines in North America began declining, and in the 1950s the world population was decimated. By 1964 there were no peregrines east of the Mississippi River, and populations were reduced by 80 to 90 percent in the west by the mid-1970s.
It was discovered that the pesticide DDT and its breakdown product DDE had accumulated in the bodies of peregrines from eating small birds that got the chemical from eating contaminated seeds. This caused thin eggshells that broke during incubation. Thus, too few young replaced adults that died, so peregrines rapidly declined. Only Peale's subspecies was not affected because DDT was not used in its region, and they did not migrate any great distance.
Canada banned DDT in 1969, followed by the U.S. in 1972. This did not eliminate the problem for North American peregrines. Migrants acquired contaminants on their wintering grounds in Central and South America and also from eating prey that had migrated from those regions. Both in Canada and the U.S., the peregrine was placed on the endangered list.
In Canada and U.S. large captive breeding and release programs were started, and a miraculous peregrine recovery ensued within a relatively short time period. More than 1,650 peregrines were released in Canada and more than 6,000 were released in the U.S. since 1974. Now, more than 7,000 pairs nest in North America, including Mexico. I even saw a peregrine in my backyard here in Long Beach, Calif., attracted I am sure by my bird feeders.
Currently in Canada the anatum subspecies has been downgraded from endangered to "threatened," and Peale's and tundra subspecies are now listed as "special concern." In the U.S. the peregrine was de-listed from the endangered list in August 1999. This recovery is a shining example of what good wildlife management can do in Canada and the U.S.
Harlequin Duck
The harlequin is a sea duck about half the size of a mallard, and the male is a really handsome bird. To appreciate how colorful the male is requires one to view a colored picture or photograph. At a distance the male appears dark gray, but a close-up view reveals slate blue plumage, chestnut sides, crescent-shaped white patch at the base of the bill, white ear patch and bold white lines on the body. The female is a plain brown color with three white spots on the head.
I found two explanations for the common name, "harlequin." One states that the common name comes from characters in Italian comedy who wear colorful masks and dress in oddly colored costumes. The other states the name comes from "gaily colored dress of medieval court jesters." Perhaps these are one and the same.
There are three world populations, two in the east and one in the west. One eastern population is called the Greenland Wintering Population, and the second is termed Eastern North American Wintering Population. The third is the Western Wintering Population. The east population nests in northern Quebec, Labrador, Newfoundland, Baffin Island, Nunavut and New Brunswick and winters south as far as the New England states. The west population nests in northeast Siberia to arctic Canada, through Alaska, British Columbia and a few as far south as California.
Harlequins have interesting ways of finding food. While on the nesting grounds, they enter the fast-flowing streams, walk on the bottom against the current and probe in the streambed for insect larvae of black flies, caddis flies, stone flies, midges and fish eggs. In wintering areas along rocky sea coasts they hunt small crabs, limpets, snails, shrimp, small mussels, other small invertebrates and fish eggs. They are very adept at prying loose chitons and limpets from rocks with their beaks.
Harlequins leave their wintering grounds in May to breed and nest along wild, fast-flowing northern streams and rivers. The female builds a down-lined nest on the ground close to water under dense vegetation, under logs, in tree roots or in rock crevices. The female lays three to eight eggs and incubates them for 28 to 29 days. Young can fly in 40 to 50 days after hatching.
The Canadian government has listed the Greenland and Eastern Population as "special concern," and the International Union for Conservation of Nature listing for the entire species is "lower risk." Canada banned hunting the Eastern Population in 1990, and they are not hunted much in the west. The global population is estimated to be 190,000-390,000 individuals. A great deal has yet to be learned about the life history of this attractive duck.
Questions and comments are welcomed. Contact me at denrain@charter.net.
Add to: del.icio.us digg
With this article: Email to friend Print
Something to add? Notice an error? Comment on this article. | |