Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus Peregrine Falcons are small hawks most commonly seen in the arctic flying high and fast over tundra and forests looking for food. Peregrines commonly eat small rodents (mice and lemmings) and sometimes eat sparrows and other small birds. Peregrine Falcons breed in small nests hidden on rocky cliffs throughout the arctic, and usually found over land near tundra or meadows. Falcons catch food by diving in the air very fast and stunning their prey. Because they eat so many mice and small animals, they can be exposed to large amounts of toxic chemicals and poisons in the environment. Before we understood how dangerous some insecticides were, Peregrine Falcons became very rare because high concentrations of DDT and other poisons made their eggs brittle and weak. Better controls on these chemicals in the environment helped Peregrine Falcons to breed again by reducing the amount of toxic chemicals in their food. Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus Bald Eagles are large and dangerous predatory birds of North America. They used to be found throughout the US and Canada, but they are now most commonly seen in the northern forests and Arctic regions. Bald Eagles are very sensitive to disturbance of their feeding a

ing and breeding areas by humans, and it is only in isolated or protected regions where they now occur in large numbers. Bald Eagles make very large nests at the tops of trees close to water where they can get fish to feed their chicks. Bald Eagles prefer to catch fish from streams and shallow water by flying low and snatching them out of the water with their feet! Early Eskimo and Indian hunters would look for flocks of eagles to tell them where the salmon were swimming, because eagles have better eyesight than we do. When they see many fish close to the surface they will flock together to catch them. Bald Eagles also will eat dead fish on the shore, and many good places to find them now are near fish canneries and city dumps. Early Arctic people would make traps for eagles using dead fish and a hidden net to trap them. Bald Eagles leave the arctic in fall and migrate south to warmer climates because they find it difficult to find food in winter. Snowy Owl Nyctea scandica Snowy Owls are found only in the Arctic, and are seen most commonly sitting very still on the tundra. Snowy Owls are about the size of a Great Horned Owl but are different in that they will hunt during the day and that they have two different colors of plumage dependin