10/23/2008

Female peregrine x kestrel hybrid




This is "Sissy", my female peregrine x kestrel hybrid. She was raised by her mother, an Eurasian kestrel, in an open breeding pen. Therefore she is very tame, nearly like an imprint. When I took her out of the pen, she weighed 310 grams. Now she flies at 325 grams and there is still some place for muscles on her sternum. From all falcons I have seen in my life she has the most protruding sternum. She is shorter with a shorter tail than the other kestrel hybrids I had and I think that in adult plumage she will be a stunning bird. Unlike all the other kestrel hybrids I saw she has a very long, peregrine-like beak instead a typical kestrel beak Remarkable is her willingness to crush into the ground to catch something, even at high speed. Most be the kestrel genetics!

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