Shaheen falcon

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Shaheen falcon
Territorial bird of Gilgit-Baltistan, Symbol of Pakistan Air Force
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Falconiformes
Family: Falconidae
Genus: Falco
Species: F. peregrinus
Subspecies: Falco peregrinus peregrinator

The shaheen falcon (Falco peregrinus peregrinator) is also known as the Indian peregrine falcon,[2] Other names are the black shaheen, Pakistani shaheen, or simply the shaheen.[3]

It is a non-migratory subspecies of the peregrine falcon found mainly in hilly and mountainous regions of the Indian subcontinent and the nearby island of Sri Lanka.[4] In Pakistani literature, the shaheen has a special association with the poetry of the country's national poet, Allama Muhammad Iqbal. The Pakistan Air Force has as a symbol and in Gilgit-Baltistan it is the unofficial bird of the region.

References[change | change source]

  2. Manjula Vijesundara (2007). Sinhala Kurulu Vishvakoshaya (Sinhala bird encyclopaedia) - Part 1. Suriya Publishers. p. 278. ISBN 955 8892 94 7.
  3. The shaheen (شاهین) of Arabic and Persian writers are usually barbary falcons; those in Indian (शाहीन) and Pakistani (شاہین) sources normally refer to 'peregrinators'.
  4. Döttlinger, Hermann; & Nicholls, Mike (2005). "Distribution and population trends of the ‘black shaheen’ peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus peregrinator and the eastern peregrine falcon F. p. calidus in Sri Lanka". Forktail 21: 133–138.