Gyrfalcons are 'secret seabirds'

Gyrfalcons are 'secret seabirds'

By Matt Walker Editor, BBC Nature

Ice lover and ocean wanderer

The world's largest falcon, the fast, taloned gyrfalcon, is a secret seabird, scientists have discovered.

Gyrfalcons living in the high Arctic overwinter out at sea, spending long periods living and hunting on pack ice.

It is the first time any falcon species has been found regularly living at sea.

The birds likely rest on the ice and hunt other seabirds such as gulls and guillemots, over what appears to be one of the largest winter ranges yet documented for any raptor.