Peregrine falcon's breeding range includes land region from the arctic tundra to the tropics. It can be found nearly everywhere on Earth, except extreme polar regions, very high mountains and most tropical rainforest; the only major ice free land mass from which it is entirely absent is New Zealand. This makes it the world's most widespread raptor and one of the widely found bird species. Both the English and scientific names of this species mean "wandering falcon", referring to the migratory habits of many northern population.
While its diet consists almost exclusively of medium-sized bird, the peregrine will occasionally hunt small mammals, small reptile or even insects. Reaching sexual maturity at one year, it mates for life and nests in a scrape, normally on cliff edges or, in recent times, on tall human made structures. The Peregrine Falcon became an endangered species in many areas because of pesticides especially DDT. Since the ban on DDT from the early 1970's, populations have recovered, supported by large-scale protection of nesting places and releases to the wild.
